


Over the Palisaide

by 0kalopsia0



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Blood and Injury, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Dear Wormwood (Album), Family Dynamics, Fantasy, Fluff, I use Adopting very losely, Lots of family dynamics, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, Sleepy Boys Inc - Freeform, Songfic, Technoblade & Tommyinnit & Wilbur Soot are Adopted Siblings, Timedeo & Jack Manifold & Eret are Siblings, Wholeass album fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 49,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28493199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0kalopsia0/pseuds/0kalopsia0
Summary: something dark is looming over the fae wilds and it's up to Phil, Techno, Wil, Tommy, and company to figure out what it is and how to stop it...
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), No Romantic Relationship(s), Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Time Deo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Zak Ahmed & Darryl Noveschosch
Comments: 6
Kudos: 53





	1. intro.

Welcome to the plane of caerulia, aka a mcyt fantasy au!  
Some stuff before you go on! 

This whole book is basically going to be one big songfic. As the chapters go on there are going to be a lot of lyrics embedded in the lines from the album Dear Wormwood by The Oh Hellos! There will be a few points where in [brackets] I might say something like [song; soldier, poet, king] and so if you want to get into the vibe a little, I suggest you listen to it as you read or sometime before or after!

Also, there will be more detailed trigger warnings before any chapter that needs it, but there will be violence, death!! So just be on the lookout if that may bother you!!

Anyways, here’s the prelude :)

For many years, the ethereal and mortal plane had been enemies. It started hundreds of years ago because of a muddled bloodline, and only about sixteen years ago was it resided; with the birth of a child. Once this child was old enough to leave his mother, the fae lord known as Red’Za came to collect his debt and took the child away and into the fae world.

Red’Za had a habit of… collecting. His palace was full of bizarre objects and beings which he kept locked away. The child was not void of this fate. If it had not been for one of the lord’s brothers, he would have stayed locked up in that palace for all of his mortal life, but he was taken pity on. 

Green’Za, though he had come to use the name Phil’Za, had a habit of taking on the poor creatures whose lives were muddled by his brothers. He had done the same years prior with a little prince who had been given the head of a boar. 

So for the past ten or so years the compensation, or as Phil’Za had been told, Tommy had been living with him, his other adopted son, Techno, and his wife in enjoyable chaos, but something has been off to Phil’Za recently… the world seems to be growing weak and dark. Something dark is looming over their shoulders…

I hope you guys are excited, I’m going to try and write this as quickly and as best as I can as to not lose interest lmao

Anyways, I’m going to be doing some concept art for everyone as they get introduced so if anyone ever wants to do some art :eyes: 

Thank you, and enjoy!


	2. chapter one

[song; In the Blue Hours of Morning by The Oh Hellos]

Tommy felt his feet almost run out from under him as his footsteps bellowed through the grand marble halls of the court. It was mainly empty for now, just some mindless beings carefully warming up their harps. They paid Tommy no attention. They only paid their instruments attention. It scared Tommy every time, he could have been like them.

The blue morning light shone through the high windows and onto the opulent gold detailing all around the room. Even in the dead of night, the room was never fully dark even when all the lanterns of fairy lights were put out. The high ceiling and marble pillars and floor made any step taken or any sound whispered and amplified it. His pursuer wouldn’t be able to sneak up on him now.

He heard footfalls coming from down the hall, they were approaching quickly. Tommy’s heart sped up and he dove behind the giant pillars and waited.

A few seconds later his pursuer appeared. The morning light shone through his wings like stained glass, sending little spots of colorful light around him. “Tommy!” the fae yelled out, “I know you’re in here! I literally saw you!”

Tommy stifled a laugh, “Well lucky for me, this isn’t a game of hide and seek!” he called out from behind the pillar. 

The other wined, “Come on man! I can never catch you!”

Tommy peeked out from around the pillar, “What can I say, I’m just built different” the blond shrugged with a laugh.

“Yeah, in eight years when you’re old and crippled and I’m still frolicking around like a little spring flower, you’ll really be built different” The other called back.

“That’s not fair, Tubbo! That’s not something I can change! You’ve just gotta get good!” Tommy said as he melodramatically clutched his hand over his heart before extending it out towards Tubbo.

“Ahh yeah, how about you get good at aging? Yeahhh that’s what I thought!” Tubbo called back, sticking his tongue out.

“Whatever” Tommy shook his head as we walked towards his friend, “We should probably get out of here before Techno or someone comes in and yells at us for waking him up.”

Tubbo nodded and followed after Tommy as he wandered back the way they came. Tommy let one last pitying look towards the harpists, still strumming their instruments. Tommy knew they didn’t have free will, but he often finds himself pondering if they could hear what was happening around them. Who knows how much inside knowledge they have but will never be able to mutter.

Tubbo followed Tommy’s unreadable gaze towards the harpists, “They’re creepy, aren’t they?”

Tommy gave his friend a light punch on his shoulder, “Hey- what if they heard that?” he whisper-yelled at him, pulling Tubbo along as they continued to walk.

Tommy masked a laugh as he saw the sudden alarm in Tubbo’s eyes, “Wait, they can hear us?”

The blond simply shrugged, “I dunno, I mean maybe they’re like- like those people who get locked in comas but are aware of what’s going on around them” he offered.

Tubbo seemed to not quite be able to wrap his head around what Tommy was saying, so he just continued pacing forward with a mix of confusion and concern on his face.

Tommy casually followed after him, catching up and walking syncing his stride with his friend’s They aimlessly wandered around through the corridors for a while, chatting about this and that until a guard approached them, informing Tommy that he was requested by Phil’Za in the great hall. Tommy and Tubbo caught each other out of the corner or their eyes with a similar look of fright before Tommy excused the guard in front of them. 

After some light banter on the way back and dodging through the newly congregating crowds of officials, the duo emerged in the hall, approaching the grand throne in the back center of the room. 

Once Tommy arrived at the bottom of the pedestal stairs that the throne toward above, Tubbo slipped away towards the pillars leaving Tommy alone with Phil’Za. Techno emerged around from where Tubbo disappeared to and came to stand beside Tommy as Phil shooed away some important looking people.

He turned his stoic expression towards his two sons and his face quickly lit up, “Good morning you two, good to see you two up!” He exclaimed.

His eagerness relaxed Tommy as it assured him that he wasn’t about to get his ass beat in front of the palace staff and co.

Phil continued, “Well I hope you two remember, we have that gala tonight at my brother’s palace. I presume both of you will be going with me? If you don’t want to, that’s fine but it is the harvest moon tonight.”

It was always nice of Phil to give them the option of not going, especially since neither Tommy nor Techno were the fondest of Red’Za, yet they always ended up going one way or another. Tommy nodded and Techno did the same after a few more moments of hesitation.

“Alright, god good. Just needed the confirmation. Thank you, boys.” Phil smiled and signaled with his hand that they were dismissed. “Don’t stray too far so we’ll get out of here on time” He paused, “And Tommy- try not to wake everyone up again” The king chuckled, leaving Tommy red with embarrassment as he waddled away towards Tubbo.

Tommy spent the rest of the day either with Tubbo or napping. One of the many, many downsides of being a human in the fae plane was the fact that he couldn’t go on night after night partying and whatnot while everyone around him frolicked from sunrise to sunrise to another sunrise.

Now, fresh moonlight filtered through the sheer curtains that hunt around Tommy’s window. The harvest moon and the many candles spread out across his room gave him plenty enough light to sift through his closet of fine white, red, and green silks. 

Tommy had just placed his golden laurel crown on his similarly golden hair as a knock on his door rang out through the room. “Coming!” Tommy called back as he fumbled with a few golden armbands and stumbled around the forest green cloak that flowed behind him.

He swung open his heavy wooden door to see an uncomfortable-looking Techno looming above him. The pigman looked to be in a similar outfit to the one he adorned earlier, but switching out a few things for the same forest green silk that Tommy’s cloak was made out of and that was scattered around Phil’s palace. “You look nice,” Tommy stated as he walked by and into the hall. 

Techno mumbled some kind of ‘thank you’ and followed after him. Tommy scoffed and shook his head.

Techno rolled his eyes, “What do you want from me, Tommy? ‘Cause I’m not here to expand upon your already sprawling ego or whatever” he chuckled. “Plus if I said anything else, I would just be lying-”

Tommy dramatically whipped his head back and hit Techno with his cloak in retaliation. Techno in turn spun around and hit Tommy’s with his cape then started sprinting down the hall as Tommy yelled some random muddle of words and curses at him.

The two ran down the halls until Techno ran out of the main entrance, stopping abruptly to reassemble his composure and walked out into the courtyard where their coach was waiting with Phil’Za already inside. 

Techno casually waltzed towards the chariot as a still angry Tommy reaped around the corner and whipped Techno with his cape again without thinking. Techno stumbled back a little and turned around to Tommy, giving him a malicious look before saying something, “Hey! What the hell!”

“Tommy!” Phil’Za called out from the coach, “Why did you do that?”

“Wha_” Tommy stuttered, looking between a confused Phil’Za and Techno who looked hurt on the surface, but Tommy saw the trick he was playing. “Whatdoyoumeanilitterally-welitterallyjustranaroundhittingeachotherthisissounfair-PHIL!-” Tommy started yell-rambling as Phil chuckled and Techno continued his act.

“We ran around hitting each other?” He paused and looked back towards Phil, “Does that sound like something I would ever do? I would never hit a poor orphan child Phil’Za, you know that.”

Phil laughed and before Tommy could start yelling again he shook his head with a grin and beckoned them both into the coach, “Come on you two, we’re going to be late if you two keep dilly-dallying.”

With all the dignity in the world, Techno stepped up into the carriage followed by a grumbling Tommy. Phil let out another chuckle as they departed from the courtyard and embarked on the short journey to Red’Za’s palace.


	3. chapter two

The trip wasn’t much over an hour and was mostly filled with banter between the brothers as Phil’Za out the window, occasionally budding in to stop one from murdering the other or looking down to check the time. 

Dark mountains soon emerged over the skyline. They passed through following wheat fields and over cold rivers until they passed through the first line of boundary markers. 

The silhouette sent chills up Tommy’s spine every time he had the displeasure of seeing it. Jagged obsidian points adorned with plentiful gold and details sprung from the side of an equally ominous mountain. Ornate quartz sculptures dotted the perfect gardens that were only ever touched by mindless gardeners. The memories never got more pleasant.

Their coach pulled around and the carriage door swung open. Phil’Za walked out, followed by a hesitant Tommy and Techno. They were marched up the tall stairs and through the heavy red curtains that acted as fashionable doors and onto another large set of stairs that went down this time.

Below them was the grand ballroom, carefully carved out of a large mountain. Tommy kept his eyes at his feet as Phil’Za pulsed him down the stairs. He didn’t have the heart to look up. He knew what was waiting.

The warm moon shone through a tinted window, and orangey candles lit up the rest. As Tommy shuttled down the quartz stairs and onto the ballroom floor, he started looking around more.

Phil continued down the center of the ballroom, still dragging his sons behind him until he reached the very far end of the room where another set of large red curtains hung. He said something to the guard standing between the closed curtains, who quickly bowed and opened up the curtains for them.

Tommy released the breath he was holding as they passed through, finally able to get a good look around without fear of seeing any of them. Or so he thought.

The curtains that they had been let through cut off the back of the grand hall, allowing Red’Za a more personal and quiet spot to see family and friends. A few yards ahead of them, an obsidian throne rose on a pedestal adorned with, believe it or not, more red and gold. If nothing else, Red’Za was good at keeping a color pallet.

Though the tiring color pallet wasn’t what made Tommy flinch away as Phil walked up the pedestal towards his brother. It was the circular cages that looked like they were made of gilded vines that hung down from the ceiling beside the throne. One on each side. Ond of course, what’s the point of having cages if you couldn’t fill them with something. Cages just like the two beside the throne hung all throughout the palace, mainly strung above the ballroom around the moon window.

Had it been about ten years since he had left this place? Yes. Did that change his disdain towards the place? No. Phil’Za and Techno disliked his ways as well, but Phil had always told them that it wasn’t their place to argue.

Tommy tried not to keep his gaze on the creatures in the cages for too long. He didn’t want to give them false hope. Techno didn’t look at them either, instead standing beside Phil’Za as he spoke to his brother.

“It’s good to see you, my brother!” The king exclaimed, handing Phil’Za a drink, “And uhh..” He looked between Techno and Tommy, “Your... “

“Sons,” Phil insisted, annoyance ebbing in the back of his voice but still giving his brother a smile.

“Yes, of course,” He turned his attention back to completely on him brother, “Glad to see they’re still conscious, especially the boy. What use do you have for him anyway?” Tommy furrowed his brow and was close to mauling the king in his stupid chair before Phil spoke again.

“He’s my son, Red, he doesn’t need a use” Phil explained tirelessly. This happened every time really, but insulting someone to their face and acting like they aren’t there doesn’t get old too quickly.

Red’Za shook his head, putting his arm around Phil, “You and those mortal creatures, Phil. You need to stop getting attached! They’re like decorative fish-” Tommy and Techno stood still as Phil was begrudgingly pulled along by his brother. The two just looked between each other and the floor before Tommy silently turned away.

Techno silently followed after his brother and placed his hand out on his brother’s shoulder before he was able to slip away into the rest of the main ballroom, “Uh hey-” Techno called out.

Tommy stopped and looked around back at his brother, “They all say stuff like that,” Techno tried to explain.

Tommy cut him off, “They all say stuff like that for a reason, Techno. He’s not wrong.”

Techno hesitated for too long. By the time he had come up with a reasonable response Tommy had slipped away and into the rest of the room. Techno let out an inward scowl as his eyes rose to the ceiling. Those damn cages.

The rest of the night went on like how the harvest moon festivals usually went. Techno lurked around, spending his time either lurking around Tommy or hanging around outside under the moon by himself. 

Harvest festivals always brought on cold waves of nostalgia. It made the pigman long for the days back in his kingdom with his brother. The city center was always decorated and mazes were filled with joyful screams of kids. But now all was nothing but a distant memory.

The crisp air was refreshing in the night it made the thought of going back into the palace distasteful. It was quiet outside and Techno didn’t have anything to worry about. Between his daily training and Tommy, it was never quite at home for Techno. The pig let out a long, melodramatic sigh.

It was almost midnight when Techno finally went back into the castle. The grand waltz was about to start which even thinking about it, made Techno regret coming. He thought it best to find his brother, maybe he could save him.

As Techno made his way through the crowd, mumbling apologies whenever he stepped on some elven noble lady’s dress or some high ruler’s foot. Lucky for him, his brother was very good at… showstopping. So when Techno saw a group of people surrounding a fiery kid with blond hair, it was pretty safe to assume it was Tommy. 

“Tommy!” Techno exclaimed, pushing through the crowd that surrounded him. The kid looked up from the deck of cards in his hands and met Techno’s gaze. “What the hell is this?” Techno whisper yelled.

Tommy laughed, his eyes wild. He said something to the crowd who dispersed around him and then waltzed over to Techno, “What do you mean?”

Techno narrowed his eyes, “What are you doing with-” Techno snatched the deck out of Tommy’s hands, “-these? Are these Phil’s cards?” Techno sifted through the deck, looking at the pictographs and sigils.

Tommy shrugged, “I was entertaining!” He paused for a moment as if considering his next words, “Plus these aren’t Phils, they’re Red’Za’s. Payback.”

“Tommy, stealing is not how you get payback against an immortal god. Trust me,” Techno said sharply, making Tommy shy away for a moment before reconnecting eye contact.

“Well, I was just thinking- you know- I could just be more entertaining than the party’s own host,” He tried explaining, “And it turns out Red happened to have a magical deck of cards. Plus, think about what we can do with these! Maybe one of these opens all of the uhh” He motioned up towards the ceiling which finished the sentence for him. 

Techno shook his head, “Tommy, Phil tells you this every time, it’s not our place.”

Something snapped in Tommy, his expression changed from defense to offense. “Guess what Techno, it fuckin’ was my place. For nine years.”

Techno crained his head back, “Yeah, I know Tommy. I was around here too, but just because you have some magical cards doesn’t mean you’re suddenly a god. I want them out just as much as you, but we wouldn’t stand a chance. Hold your ground.”

Tommy bit his tongue, but nodded, “Alright,” he mumbled breathlessly, “Can I have the cards back?” He pleased, giving Techno his best puppy eyes.

“Hell no. That stopped working a day after I met you.” Techno stated, laughing at his brother’s attempt. 

“That’s a lie-” Tommy started, but Techno just cut him off again.

“No, I’m just nice.”

“Mmmh well, that’s also a lie,” Tommy shot back, which earned him a light smack on his head. Just as Techno’s hand collided with Tommy’s head though, a soft quire of bells leveled the room.

Both their heads shot towards the back of the room where the large satin curtains that they had passed through to the throne. They were being heaved back to reveal none other than Red’Za himself upon his throne. 

Once the crowd was silenced, he stood up with his glass in hand, clinking a spoon across the lip and beginning his speech.

“Hello everyone! I am so honored to see you all on this fine evening,” He paused, handing Phil his glass who handed it on down a line of servants, “As the moon is at its height, I’m sure you are all aware what time it is. Though before we start the harvest waltz and everyone is excused to do as they please, I would like to present the newest item in my collection.”

Techno laid his arm across Tommy’s shoulder as the creature came out beside the king. While the crowd was in awe, the brothers recognized it as one of the beings who were in the cages beside the throne itself. 

He stood taller than Red’Za himself with a panpipe in hand two pairs of ivory wings springing out of his back, but that was not the most noticeable part of his complexion. That went to his golden skin. 

He was dazzling really, but Techno saw it in his eyes. The same thing he saw in Tommy’s eyes. A burning fire that would explode at the second he had a clear shot. His eyes scanned through the crowd, pausing for a moment of a few key people, including Techno and Tommy.

Red’Za didn’t see it of course, he was blind to defiance. Red’Za rattled off information about him, saying he was a gilded siren from the far far northern mountains. He said how he found him alone and injured, but from experience and the look in the creature’s eyes, Techno knew that was a lie.

When Red’Za finished, he gave the siren a signal. The siren did nothing. Red’Za signaled again, and again, and again, but the siren stood. Techno’s heart skipped a beat when he saw Red reach towards the sword at his hip, but Phil saw it too.

Phil pulled his brother’s hand down and stepped towards the siren, he muttered something to him and after a suspicious glance from the siren, Phil offered him his hand. Phil couldn’t go against a deal.

After a moment of hesitation, he siren took the mysterious deal and held up his panpipe, seemingly unsure.

Whether it was his instrument or not, he pulled it to his lips and played it like he had a million times before. The tense that had clogged up the room in anticipation died down as the siren played out his tune. 

Everyone seemed to fall in line, taking hands with their partners and swinging around the floor as the tune swirled about. Though something was off. Every time someone passed them, they looked more alarmed than pleased.

Then it clicked, “Tommy- Tommy he’s a siren. That’s it.” Techno stuttered looking up at the performer, “He’s enchanted everyone here-”

Tommy looked up at him, “Wait- then why aren't we affected?” he asked, staring into the sea of dancers.

“The protection charms Phil gave us years ago,” Techno explained, pulling his sleeve up to show the beaded bracelet. Tommy followed suit, looking down at his arm.

The royal servants and Red’Za himself upon the podium seemed to have not caught on yet, but Phil saw it. He scanned over the crowd until he landed on Tommy and Techno, relieved to see them secure from the enchantment, but he didn’t move against the siren.

The song went on for minutes, Tommy and Techno having slipped to the side to avoid suspicion before someone whispered something into the king’s ear. He shot up with sudden anger and once again shot his hand to his sword and called out for the siren’s silence.

But with his original determination, the siren continued, dancing around the podium around the king with confidence, until… he ran straight into a guard. He bounced off the large creature’s chest and onto the floor, which sent his panpipe flying out of his hands.

Now the panic set in. The king marched over to the lame siren as the crowd came back into their own minds. The king pulled his sword out and pointed it down towards the enchanter, “What form or sour witchcraft was that? And for what?” He demanded.

The siren pulled himself up against the pillar behind him but didn’t respond. The king growled and pulled his sword above his head, “You’ve made a fatal mistake trying to entrance a god, child.”

“Brother,” Phil’Za’s stoic voice fell over the room. Red’Za turned around and scowled, “Don’t kill the boy.”

“And why would I do that, dear brother? Did he not try to get the best of you as well?” Red’Za spat, turning back to the siren.

“Perhaps, but I made a deal,” He told his brother, moving him out of the way, “He will be going with me.”

“It’s not yours to take, brother,” Red demanded.

“I’m not taking him, he’s coming with me willingly,” Phil’Za stated calmly. He turned towards the siren and offered him a hand up, “Come on now, we shall leave,” Phil’Za told him.

Tommy and Techno looked at each other with surprise before nodding to one another with a small smile. Techno patted Tommy’s back as the younger ran up through the silent crowd to Phil. 

Phil smiled at him, a proud spark in his eyes, “Go get your brother, Tommy. We are leaving.”


	4. chapter three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mmh yep, there's some good old fashioned impaling and (very) minor character death in this chapter!

The ride home was nothing too special and in the end, Tommy fell asleep on Techno’s shoulder in the carriage and didn’t wake up back up until the next morning to Tubbo knocking on his door, budding with questions and informing him that he was to be in the dining hall for breakfast. 

The time that Tommy spent asleep seemed to go well for all those who were awake. Tommy answered his friend’s questions to the best of his ability as they wandered down the halls, and told him about the deck he stole from Red’Za.

When the pair walked into the dining room, Phil’Za, Kristin, Techno, and Wilbur were already seated, chatting lightly as they feasted. Tommy sat down next to Techno and beckoned his friend to come sit next to him. He figured if Phil could bring home some random siren into the castle, Tommy could get his friend to sit beside him.

Breakfast didn’t take too long as Phil’Za still had people to attend to, but Kristin and Wilbur seemed to get along well and Techno seemed to let his guard down. Tommy insisted that he show Wilbur around the grounds, but both Techno and Kristin were quick to shut him down, instead letting Techno leave with the mysterious man.

But Tommy wasn’t about to let Techno have all the fun. He said a quick farewell to Kristin before excusing himself and Tubbo to follow after the pair. 

Techno was not a very fun tour guide, Tommy would like to add. His monotone comments sounded exactly like half of his professors as he carelessly motioned down halls. Tommy would definitely have been a lot more fun for the new guy, but alas, was ‘too likely to get stuck somewhere’ or ‘too likely to commit a minor felony’. Bullshit.

Tubbo and Tommy followed after the welcome party in silence for a while, occasionally mocking Techno when his disinterest shone through. Wilbur seemed much more interested in it all, but Tommy guessed that wasn’t a hard assumption to come to.

They wound out outside the palace, they wandered through the statuaries and hedge mazes, and then finally ended up back in the great hall. Tommy and Tubbo finally emerged from behind them, but Techno didn’t even acknowledge them.

The four wandered up the hall, approaching the throne where Phil’Za sat, surrounded by a few officers. Techno turned to Tommy as they walked, “Well, since you clearly want to show this guy around, who don’t you show him to one of the rooms?” Techno commented.

Tommy was about to say some snarky comment before Techno cut in, “-Tommy you are literally the loudest person I know, you’re not smooth.”

Tommy furrowed his brow and muttered some curse, but shrugged it off quickly, “Whatever, sure,” He turned to the siren, “Here, follow me. I’ve gotcha,” Tommy said, beckoning for Wilbur to follow after him.

“If he leads you down some dark alley and tries to scam you, just kick him or something,” Techno called out after them, chuckling a little when Tommy responded by sticking up his middle finger.

Tubbo was left standing beside Techno and Tommy was about to disappear through a corridor. He turned to Techno, about to comment something, but was interrupted.

[song; Caesar by the Oh Hellos]

It was a strange sight for all who witnessed. Tommy and Wilbur shot around when they heard it, running back into the room. Techno grabbed Tubbo and pulled him to the side, and upon the throne, the officers around Phil grabbed the weapons strewn across their backs and formed a small circle of protection around the king.

At first, they heard footsteps from some unseeable being, then in the blink of an eye, there laid what was perhaps a high elf, doubled over himself as if begging for his life in front of a cruel king. He seemed to be surrounded by mauve particles and when he coughed, deep red blood came out onto the pristine white floor.

Phil’Za shooed the officers around his away as he shot up and ran towards the dying creature on the floor. The room darkened around them, Tommy tried to run out beside his father but the king shooed him away too.

The king sat on the floor in front of the elf, softly lifting its head to meet his own eyes, not minding as blood soaked into his silk. Something dark washed over the dying elf’s eyes as if the void temporarily took him over. Phil was about to question him, but the elf spoke first.

“Hear on the wind how the pendulum swings  
Feel how the winter succumbs to the spring  
Over the palisade morning will break  
Rise up to meet it, oh sleeper awake  
Gather the soldiers, the heir to enfold  
Crown him and give him a scepter to hold  
Sound every horn as the columns extend  
Up to the hill where the king will ascend  
Look to the sky where the sign will be shown  
Heaven and earth and the king on his throne  
Look to the sky where the sign will be shown”

Phil couldn’t do anything as the darkness that swirled around in the elf’s eyes disappeared and drooled out of his mouth like blood, falling onto the king’s jacket. Any life left on the poor soul seemed to come out with the strange ooze as he toppled forward, dead.

Phil’Za held the dead elf in his arms, unable to say anything as he cast his gaze over to his sons. Techno was quick to stand by his father's side and Tommy followed after. 

“Are you alright?” the urgency and fear crackling in Techno’s voice seemed to ground his father back. He looked between the body and his sons and nodded.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” his tone was barely above a whisper. Techno went around to the other side of the corpse and carefully pulled it out of Phil’s lap. 

By now, most of the people in court had come and surrounded the strange sight. Phil’Za muttered what Tommy could only assume to be some form of protection spell over the body and scooted himself away.

Everyone stood in shocked silence. After a few tense minutes, Techno mumbled an offer to carry the body off to wherever Phil’Za wanted it to go. Phil looked between the officers who stood around him, silently asking for their input.

One suggested one of the priests, one suggested some morgue a little ways outside the walls, one suggested they get a carriage ready and cart the body off into the forest. All pretty logical answers to Tommy. He was most certainly not expecting an answer from Wilbur.

“I believe you should keep the body around for a little, then bury it in the palace grounds somewhere with a few protection charms. I don’t think… he should be left alone. We don’t know what the body might go through post-mortem seeing the whole fiasco that just happened.”

Phil’Za looked up to Wilbur, Tommy swore he saw the faintest light of proudness in his gaze before he turned to Techno, “That seems like a logical idea; Techno you don’t need to take it,” Phil beckoned a pair of guards forward and instructed them to follow Wilbur’s plan.

But the curiosities were not quite over. When they heaved the body up, something became incredibly visible. A large crystalline object was impaled through the elf’s chest. It faintly dripped a mix of blood and the much darker liquid. Without much thought, Phil’Za grabbed it and pulled it swiftly from the elf’s chest.

The guards left with the body, leaving Phil’Za, Tommy, Wilbur, Techno, and Tubbo, as well as the officers in the room. Phil’s eyes hadn’t left the crystal obelisk in his hands as he excused the officers, insisting they come back in a few hours once it had all been cleaned up.

When the footsteps became distant, there was only silence. The king slipped the crystal into his bloodied jacket and looked at his sons, “Well, there's always that.”

His slight chuckle seemed to lighten the room a little because Tommy budded in next, “Okay, what the fuck was that?”

“That’s how you deliver a dramatic prophecy,” the king told him, looking at the blood still pooling in on the floor. He turned to Wilbur, “Well sir, by the looks of it, you have come at a poor time. I swear this doesn’t usually happen.”

Wilbur laughed a little, clearly still wrapping his head around what he just saw, “No no, I think I came at the perfect time.”

“Well boys, looks like an adventure is afoot,” Techno said, stretching his arms out behind his back and cracking his neck.

“Yeah!” Tommy responded merrily, before getting shut down immediately by all three of the adults in front of him.

“Oh no, Tommy. Whatever we end up doing about this, you sir will be staying here with Tubbo and Kristin. And that is that,” Phil said strictly, getting a frustrated sigh from his son. 

“Bu-”

“No buts. I haven't even said we're going to do anything yet. Plus you just saw what happened to that poor man, I don’t want anything to happen to you, Tommy,” Phil explained.

“What about Techno? He’s just at mortal as I am!” Tommy exclaimed, waving his arms wildly about.

“Tommy! That's enough! Once again, I haven’t said anything about going out, and even if I did, it is not your place to argue back. My word is my word. You are excused,” Phil said, hesitantly raising his voice.

“Phi-” Tommy tried to interject again.

“You are excused, son.” Phil’Za snapped. “Take Tubbo with you, I don’t care. I need to change and speak to my wife.” He paused, taking a breath and turning to Wilbur and Techno, “Techno, show Wilbur back to his room and get yourself cleaned up kid, you’re a mess.”

Techno nodded and cast his gaze over to Tommy. He knew what Tommy was oh so tempted to say back, but his stoic gaze kept Tommy silent as he snapped Tubbo out of his still immensely concerned state and ran off down the hall with him, followed soon after by Techno himself and Wilbur, leaving the king to himself.


	5. chapter four

In reality, Phil’Za had made up his mind as soon as he heard what the elf spoke of. He hadn’t mentioned anything of prophecies, nor heard much of them, in what well could have been hundreds of years. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t heard of one.

He knew something had been on the horizon long before he adopted Techno, but that feeling was replenished in him when that had happened. Same for Tommy, and same for the newcomer. Phil could tell from his first run-in with each of them that they had a lot more potential than his brother saw.

Even then, he still wasn’t ready. He knew the dangers, he knew the threats they would face would be greater than any one of this plane had ever seen, and they would go through more hardships than anyone should.

Especially a runaway bard, a mentally uncertain pig, and a literal child. 

To say the least, this would be a shitshow. For all parties involved.

Footsteps interrupted his thoughts. He turned to the doorway to see none other than Kristin, hastily walking towards him, still crouched on the floor. 

“Phil, Techno told me what happened, are you alright?” Kristin laid her arm out on her husband’s back, rubbing her hand in calming circles. 

Phil smiled, sitting back before standing himself up, “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” He responded, pecking a kiss on her temple. “Wilbur hasn’t even been here twenty-four hours and he’s already being swept up into this madness.”

“Oh, poor boy,” Kristin laughed, “Let me guess, you apologized and he said something that got the rest up riled up.”

Phil chuckled, “How did you know!”

Kristin shook her head, “Men are predictable, honey. Plus the fact that I've known you for hundreds of years helps,” she laughed, patting her husband on the back, “Now come on, you need to change, dear.” 

Phil laughed and followed after her, “Well,” she started back up again, “When are you planning on leaving?” she asked casually.

“Phil looked at her, surprised, “What do you mean? I haven-”

Kristin silenced him, “I know you’re itching to get out of here, Phil. You have been for three hundred years, but you’ve been waiting. And now the time has come.” 

Phil rubbed the back of his neck, “Well- I mean, yes. But I don’t want to leave you, or Tommy. And I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened to him if I brought him with me. He just isn’t ready.”

“And you think Wilbur or Techno is? Hon, you don’t even know if Wilbur can hold a sword properly.” She told him patiently, “Tommy’s, Techno’s, and Wilbur’s fates are not in our hands, and they haven’t been since the beginning.”

“I’m not changing my stance, Tommy isn’t going with me,” Phil said softly, opening the doors to his bedchamber and going to change into some clean clothes. Kristin let out a small laugh, shaking her head.

“If you insist if you insist. Get some rest dear, I figure you best be ready for whatever tomorrow holds.”

And so, the day went on. Phil’Za spent most of his time awaiting news and plotting. His wife was right, as she usually was. So he had his plan. 

By that evening, a messenger had arrived in his court with a map and urgent news. About a month prior an unknown dark force had stormed multiple cities, slaughtering anyone who stood in their path, and they seemed to suck the earth of all life and beauty as they went, leaving behind fire, death, and most ominously, the same purple crystals that the elf in his court died too. 

This was all the confirmation Phil needed. He summoned Wilbur and Techno into his quarters only minutes later to tell them of his plan. He told them all about it, how long he estimated it would take, he told them about the mountain ranges and oceans. He told them how it would be treacherous, and then of course he told them the final part he had left out. He would be going alone.

Well, that was the plan at least, until Wilbur pointed out the fatal flaw. The deal they had shaken on the evening prior; Phil saying that he would save Wilbur if Wilbur agreed to follow after him. It was a pact that both parties agreed on, and one Phil physically could not break.

And of course, Techno wasn’t about to let the new guy and his father run off into the forest to surely get themselves killed. And when Phil protested the idea, Techno was quick to point out the facts. They would need him. It was many years ago now that Techno surpassed Phil in combat, and he was sure the same applied to Wilbur. If they wanted to make it as far as the ocean with such a grandiose threat above them, they would need his skills.

Phil was hesitant, but by that point, he knew he had no choice, so he requested for them to pack. They were leaving the next morning at sunrise. And under no circumstances, would Tommy know half an hour before their departure.

The trio agreed and Techno and Wilbur excused themselves, quietly being replaced by Kristin once again. He could barely meet her eyes, but she just laughed.

[song; Exeunt by the Oh Hellos]

“I was all alone, we were young, you were like wine,” Phil said, looking across his room and towards the mysterious crystal, “Heady as the fog rolling in o'er the hillside,” He continued, “Lovely as the song in the air as the wind blows.”  
“Opiate as the cold of the frost on the windows,” Kristin budded in.  
“Lo, the rose is gone from my eyes, so deceiving” He paused and took in a deep breath, “So, my little dove, I'm afraid I am leaving.”  
“Did your little plan not go as you hoped, my dear?” She asked out of comfort, going to sit down beside him on their bed.

“I didn’t have a choice, Wilbur, and his careful way of words,” Phil breathlessly chuckled before letting out a sigh. “I was going to go alone-”

“I know you were Phil. You’re blind as a bat, and about as silly as one too. Those boys knew your plan as soon as you laid it out. You need to stop underestimating them,” She told him, blatant but sweet.

“Now, I am not the fool I was when I was younger,” Kristin commented, standing up and crossing over to the window to blow a candle out, “Crocodile eyes, I have seen how you hunger. Fluttering your lashes, like ashes and embers, warm and bright as fire devouring timber”

“No, I cannot trust what you say when you're grieving,” Kristin said softly, walking back over to her husband.

“My love, I'm sorry, but still: I am leaving” Phil reconfirmed.   
Kristin smiled and placed a soft kiss on her partner’s forehead, “I know. Though I must ask, and what about Tommy?”

“Even when you hunt he with ire, relentless. Batter down my door when you find me defenseless. I will not abide his raging and reaving. I have set my mind and my will: I am leaving” Phil stated once again, “You know I won’t let him.”

“You know he won’t forgive you if you leave him, right?” Kristin pointed out.

“He’ll understand in time. He won’t be in the dark for much longer though. We plan on leaving tomorrow and we shall tell him before we head out."

“And when he does something drastic? What am I to do?” Kristin said, a slight frown fixed on her face.

“What do you mean?” Phil asked, oblivious.

Kristin hit him softly over the head, “Don’t act a fool. You know he will try and stop you or chase after you, and I most certainly won’t be stopping him,” She said blatantly. 

“Why not? Do you not wish him to stay here where he is safe?” Phil asked honestly.

Kristin shook her head, “Ah, sometimes I ask why I even bother with you anymore,” She teased, “It’s not my place to keep him from fate,” She said, mocking his phrase.

“I just want what’s best for him,” Phil insisted.

“I know, and I’m doing just that. Now sleep my love, you’ll need it for your quest,” Kristin said, snuffing the last candle in their room and cozying herself into bed. 

The morning came quicker than Phil’Za wanted it to. He knew what lay ahead of him. He woke well before the sun had reached the horizon to pack what he needed and to send servants to wake his sons. Perhaps he should have given them more time to prepare, but after hearing what atrocities this dark force had committed already, he saw it best not waste any days.

He estimated a little over three weeks if everything went smoothly to get to their destination. The plan was for them to take three of the fastest steeds and would travel about seven hundred miles over the course of two weeks. Then they would arrive in the largest port town where it would take around three days to cross the ocean, then about five days to arrive in the final kingdom, it was going to be a long and harsh journey, but it would be worth it. 

Phil’Za pulled a satchel over his body and threw a backpack on as well, as well as filling multiple saddlebags with supplies, money, and food and lugged them out to the courtyard.   
When he returned back to his room, his wife was waiting with a tired smile. Kristin pulled him into a tight hug and held his hand tightly, “Come home safe to me.”

Phil gave a playful salute and kissed her forehead, “I’ll be back before you know it and I’ll try to write whenever I can,” He reassured. 

Kristin followed Phil as he walked out and down the great hall where Wilbur and Techno stood in the dim morning haze, both still groggy from the early morning, and from the depths emerged Tommy.  
He was wide awake and probably hadn’t slept at all. He approached the group, clearly trying to hide the hurt in his eyes as he looked over the packed bags. The sadness and longing in his eyes was quick to turn to anger. “Phil’Za, sir- you can’t just leave me behind-” Tommy begged.

It had been set now, and no matter how much it hurt Phil to say, he knew he must, “Tommy. You are staying, there is no changing my mind.”  
“No!” Tommy screamed, he turned to his brother, “Techno, you can’t just let him leave me- would you really leave me behind?” His anger turned into a quiet whimper when he was met with Techno’s stoic gaze that answered all his questions. 

“What are you going to do to stop me? Huh?” He turned back to his mom and dad. Kristin stayed quiet with an unreadable expression as Phil stood still, looking down at the ground and pondering, “No, I’m going with you,” He repeated.

Phil looked up and stepped towards Tommy and stretched his arm out and held Tommy’s other shoulder with his other hand. He looked Tommy dead in the eyes, “Tommy. You are staying,” His eyes shone a brilliant gold as he said that, and Tommy seemed to sedate. 

“I am not going with you,” Tommy repeated, quiet and mindless. Completely opposite of what he had been just a moment earlier. 

Techno looked between his brother and father in confusion, “Did you just-” he started but was cut off with an explanation.

“He’ll be fine in a few hours, but he probably won’t remember much,” He explained.

“You just-” Techno started again but was again cut off.

“Yes, Techno. Don’t make me regret it more than I already do. He’ll be fine.” Phil insisted, though his tone initially sounded annoyed, there was definitely disappointment in his words.  
“Let’s get on the move, we have a long way to go and the wet season will be upon us within the month, that will be a nightmare. No time to lose,” Phil snapped, bringing Wilbur and Techno back into reality. 

Three steeds were waiting outside the palace gates. They all heaved their stuff unto the horses and went to say their final farewells.   
Wilbur thanked Kristin for letting him stay and making him feel so at home, even if for barely a day.

Phil gently hugged his wife and gave her a farewell kiss before walking over to the sedate Tommy, who even when embraced by his father didn’t seem to react much. He told them both that he loved him and he would return as quickly as they could.

Then it was Techno’s turn. He hugged his mother farewell and walked over to Tommy who he embraced as well, it’s not like he would remember it. He mumbled a quiet apology into his ear before turning back to his group. They all said one last farewell to Kristin and Tommy before Phil led them out of the gates and into the quiet morning.

Behind them in the palace, Tubbo emerged from behind a pillar and stood between Kristin and Tommy in silence, watching the silhouettes disappear into the mist. He looked over at his stoic friend and patted him on the shoulder with a laugh, “Nice one, Toms.”

Tommy suddenly shook his head and rubbed his eyes, “Oh my god that was painfullll,” he whined

Tubbo and Kristin both laughed, “That wasn’t half bad, my son,” Kristin said with a mischievous smirk, “I think they really fell for it.”

“Yeah, I don’t think Techno would have, you know, hugged my goodbye if I was ‘conscious’” Tommy commented. He looked down at his wrist and slipped off the bracelet, “Here you go, mother.”

Kristin shook her head and pushed it away, “It clearly helps you out more than I think it will me. Do you need one, Tubbo? I think I have some more somewhere.”

“Oh no, I think I’m okay ma’am,” He insisted, rolling up his sleeve to reveal a piece of his own, “I got this when I first started working around the palace as an ‘official’ or whatever since I’m a reliability or something” He shrugged.

“Liability,” Tommy corrected.

“Yeah, that,” Tubbo smiled. 

“I see,” Kristin smiled, “Well I bet you two had better start packing, you two have a long journey ahead of you. Just tell me before you leave so I can say goodbye,” She told them.

Tommy and Tubbo nodded excitingly, and Tommy skipped off, soon followed by Tubbo until Kristin called for the faerie to wait. Tubbo came skipping back across, yelling at Tommy that he would be there in just a few minutes, then turned his attention back to Kristin.

Kristin gave him a warm smile and reached out to grab his hand, “Tubbo, no matter what happens, I need you to keep him safe for me, alright? I know that is why you are here in the first place, but now more than ever. I trust you.”

Tubbo nodded with a smile, “Thank you, and I will. I won’t let you down, ma’am.”

Kristin smiled and pulled out two scarves; one green and one red, “Give one of these to Tommy and keep one for yourself, as a keepsake,” she insisted.

Tubbo carefully took them into his hands and nodded proudly, “I will! Thank you.”

“Now go catch up to Tommy,” She said, shooing him back down the hall, “I have to explain the mysterious disappearance of my entire bloodline,” she said with a laugh and Tubbo gave a small salute and ran down the halls after Tommy.


	6. chapter five

Through rolling fields and bright forests, bounding over rivers and around boulders they went as Phil’Za led Techno and Wilbur across the planes. As night fell and the sun rose, signs of civilization faded out until the only things around them were nature and forest creatures.

It was mostly silent for the first five days, just pushing their horses over fields. Phil would always ebb on Techno and Wilbur to jump any fallen trees they found, but they soon learned that Wilbur was… not the best rider.

When night fell, Techno or Phil would go out and hunt while Wilbur and whoever was left would set up their campsite and tend to the horses. The time when they really got to know one another was when they would all come together and share stories or songs around the fire.

Wilbur shared stories about how he had seen almost every corner of the globe and had landed himself in many precarious situations. He told them about how he went on a few expeditions with a group of adventurers years back, whose tales have been told across the entire plane. And about his life before he set out into the world.

Phil, in turn, told Techno and Wilbur about his time before he was a lord. When he and his brothers roamed between the mortal and fae planes, causing chaos and upsetting gods. Like when Red’Za managed to spark a massive war that waged on for centuries because he enchanted a mortal princess, and somehow that all ended with Tommy.

On the topic of upsetting gods, eventually, Techno came around to telling stories from his youth. Telling Wilbur about how he was a prince from a mortal town, but he and his brother made some… interesting decisions which ended Techno up in the fae wilds. He told them stories about the wars and battles he had won, all by the time he was nineteen.

These were the best moments, the moments that they forgot they were charging into a storm at the drop of a hat. Wilbur showed Techno how to make and play a panpipe using reeds from the river, Phil showed Wilbur the tune of spiders, which when sang to a spider, the spider starts to weave fine silks with its webs. Wilbur found this quite amusing because he could command them to make a web in front of Techno’s tent, so whenever he emerged in the morning he would get caught on the web.

And that is how it went for the first four nights of travel, hunting, campfire, story exchanging, sleep, travel, hunting, campfire, stories, etc. until one night. They were sitting around a fire as they usually did. It was getting late, the moon was bright in the sky as Techno swirled around the embers, waiting for them to die out. Comfortable silence was occasionally interrupted by a frog croak or the call of a nightbird.

But that silence was soon to be disturbed. A distant yell and someone was calling out an inaudible name. The three looked around at one another, questioning if they would go check it out.  
Techno grabbed the sword that was sitting behind him and Phil spread his hands out and created a small orb of light. Wilbur grabbed his panpipe and motioned for Techno to follow him as he followed after the cry.

To say the least, Tommy and Tubbo were not having as easy of a time.

Only about half a day into their expedition, they concluded that neither was particularly good at hunting, though luckily Tubbo had some knowledge in foraging. The first night, Tommy had almost managed to lose both of their horses (which, might I add, were carrying all their supplies) and Tubbo almost got swept away in a river.

The second day of traveling brought the duo another fresh set of problems. Tommy, much like Phil, had the habit of choosing the more spirited choice of companions. Children in Phil’s case, horses in Tommy’s. The mare was getting more and more fed up as they went along until she was finally done. As Tommy and Tubbo started to cross a small stream, the horse bolted forward up the embankment. Tommy was unprepared, to say the least.

The mare didn’t even run far. When it reached the top of the embankment, she stopped and looked back down the hill, staring straight back at Tommy, who was lying in the river, soaked.

But they kept trekking. The duo was already tired and sore but still determined. They came across many more problems as they ran but always ended up laughing it off. They couldn’t stop now. By the fifth day of travel, they had gone a little over 200 miles and their spirits were high. They had been riding as quickly as they could to try and close the gap between their party and Phil’s, and Tommy suspected they were closing in.

As the sun started to set, Tommy and Tubbo let out a sigh of relief. They hadn’t been slowed down the whole day. No accidents, no problems. Just smooth traveling and laughing. That evening they tied the horses up and Tommy went out into the forest with his bow to try and hunt while Tubbo scavenged and set up the campsite.

Tommy returned not even an hour later with duck and an interesting story. He told Tubbo about how there didn’t seem to be any pond nearby, and how the duck was already bleeding from somewhere. Neither questioned it too much, they had seen many stranger things in the previous days. Tommy got to work building the fire and Tubbo plucked the feathers off the bird.

As they ate, Tommy started telling Tubbo stories. He had been trying to spook his companion for the past few nights. He came up with tales of weeping widows who lived in the woods and stole wandering children, or trees who watch the happenings of the forest, waiting to exact their revenge on those who hurt their brothers. Whenever they heard some random rustle, Tommy would joke that someone was stalking them and waiting for them to grow weak and weary, then they would swoop in and attack.

Tonight, Tommy told the story of the forest goblins. They were one of the many clusters of goblins who lived on the continent, though these lived in the very forest they were camping in. They rode around on the wild wolves and stalked around in the underbrush, behind boulders, and in the trees. They lurked around, watching for any who wandered alone in small groups who could easily be overpowered. The goblins would raid whatever the travelers had with them, tie up the bodies, and drag them back to the camp. They would then cook you alive and eat, discard the charred bones, and wait for the next victims.

“That’s stupid,” Tubbo declared. “Wolves? Really?”

Tommy rolled his eyes, “Come on! That was a good one! And it's topical! We’re in a forest, Tubbo! You heard the wolves.”

“The man in the trees is more believable than forest goblins, Tommy. I could do better than that.”

“Oh yeah? Then why don’t you?” Tommy challenged.

“You’re not ready for my stories, Tommy. You wouldn’t be able to fall asleep,” Tubbo argued. He got up from the floor and stretched his arms out, “Maybe tomorrow night I will, the fire made me sleepy,” He told his friend.

“Oh, whatever. You’re on for tomorrow night,” He said, waving goodnight at his friend as he crawled into his tent.

Tommy didn’t spend much time out after Tubbo retired for the night. He just sat in silence, listening to frogs croak and the faint crackle of embers. Paranoia flickered around in his find as his eyes and ears started deceiving him. He had managed to freak himself out more than he did Tubbo. Tommy let out a little chuckle before casting out the fire.

Tommy stumbled through the darkness to make sure the horses were still tied up, then returned to his and Tubbo’s tent. He tried his best not to wake up his friend as he crawled into the warm blankets that covered the inside of the tent.

Tommy fell asleep with ease. Each day tired him out so sleep was never too much of a problem. But not minutes after he fell into slumber, he was woken back up by Tubbo kicking him and mumbling something about shutting up.

Tommy flipped over to face his friend, narrowing his eyes in the darkness, “What the fuck?”

“Stop making that sound, it’s doing nothing but waking me up,” His friend mumbled.

“What sound?” Tommy asked wearily.

“What sound? You’re not as sly as you think Tommy” Tubbo said, closing his eyes again and melting back under his blankets.

Tommy shrugged, he was too tired to care anyway. He flipped back over and sank back into the blankets, easily falling asleep again.  
Not even five minutes later, Tubbo kicked him again, “Tommy, I don’t even know how you’re making those sounds but seriously, shut up.”

“Well Tubbo, I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tommy hissed. “What are you even hearing?”

“Don’t play dumb, Tommy. Footsteps and some strange guttural noise? Right after that story at supper? Yeah, smooth.”

Tommy flipped back over and sat up, “Wait what?”

“Tommy-” Tubbo started, but as he was looking straight at Tommy, a noise rang out. It sounded like a mix between an owl, a frog, and a growl but had a certain ring to it like it meant something.

The two were left staring at each other in alarming silence. They looked around at the walls of the tent, expecting to see a shadow or one of the walls to be sliced with a sword, but it never happened.  
They looked back at each other and Tommy reached towards the iron daggers under his pillow. He crept towards the entrance of the tent, “Look, it’ll be fine,” He reassured his friend.

He opened the tent and flinched, shoving the dagger out in front of him. But when he opened his eyes, there was nothing there. Just darkness.

“Tommy don’t-” Tubbo said, but to no avail as his partner slipped out into the night. Tubbo set out a quiet sigh as he crept out towards his friend.  
As he rose next to his friend, looking around, Tommy laughed, “See! We’re fine! There’s nothing out here!” Tommy said, kicking up some leaves on the floor.

They both let out a faint sigh of relief as Tubbo turned back around to go into the tent. But alas, it could never be that easy for the duo, could it?

Balanced carefully on the large pole that held the tent up, Tubbo was met face to face with a foot tall, grotesque, snarling face. Tubbo tried to cover his mouth, but he couldn’t stop himself from letting out a howling scream. He wasn’t alone either, when Tommy shot around and saw, he screamed too.

Tommy grabbed Tubbo’s hand and dragged him along behind him as he tried to run, but when the two screamed, it sent an alarm out through the woods. Similar looking creatures jumped down from trees, and some even emerging from the shadows, mounted upon wild eyes wolves. If they weren't in imminent danger, Tubbo would have liked to laugh.

The goblins surrounded them, a few holding up crackling torches, a few holding up burlap sacks, and a few holding clubs. Tubbo pushed his back against his friend’s as Tommy slipped one of his daggers to Tubbo.

The crowd of nasty creatures grew closer as the duo tried to think of a hasty escape that didn’t end up with either of them roasting over a goblin’s campfire. Tommy elbowed his friend lightly, “I’ve got a plan.” Tubbo mumbled a silent prayer as Tommy stepped away.

“Well good evening boys!” Tommy exclaimed, raising his arms out, “What a night, amirite?”

Oh yeah, they’re screwed, Tubbo officially decided. But Tommy continued.

“Mmmh let me tell you all, you need to work on the whole stigma problem you have. Let me tell you,” Tommy continued, to be honest, he’s unsure they even understood. The mortal English tongue was integrated into teachings when the war broke out and was quickly taken on by many as a ‘business language’ of sorts, but Tommy guessed the carnivorous groups of forest creatures perhaps didn’t have the height of education.

“Might I add, murdering two helpless children would not help your, erm… status.”

The group surrounding them took a step closer. The one standing in front of Tommy with a club looked up at him and gargled something, “Uh, I’m sorry sir, I have no idea what-” The goblin swung around and hit Tommy in the back on the knee, sending him onto the floor, “Shit!” he growled.

The hoard jumped on the two, either piling onto Tommy or dragging Tubbo onto the floor as well. The two punched and kicked and stabbed their way through, but every time they got down one, five more attacked.

Tommy looked up, and for just a moment, saw a flash of light in the trees above him. But it was too big to be a goblin, it looked a lot closer to Tommy’s height. A voice rang out as Tommy was once again pulled into the sea of goblins. “ROLL!”

And so Tommy did, and he hopped Tubbo did too. A new figure, the figure Tommy saw in the trees, jumped down, cushioning his fall with a few goblins. They grabbed the torches that were left prone on the floor and threw them into the center.

Goblins started to scatter enough so that Tommy could stand himself up onto his knees and elbow a few goblins in the face. The new person pulled two short swords out of their sheaths and started slicing through the crowds. Tommy reaffirmed the grip on his dagger as he did so as well.

Tubbo, seeing what the mysterious tree person did, grabbed one of the torches and swirled it around, making many moves of the goblins back away from him.  
Within a few minutes of chucking fire around and slashing through mobs, most of the goblins were dead or retreated.

Tubbo and Tommy look around, then to each other, then to the new guy. Tommy sat back down and pulled himself up against a tree, trying to catch his breath. Tubbo just gave the mysterious man a small wave and laid himself back down.

Just then, more rusting came from the other side of the campsite. They all tensed up and the new guy swung around, extending his sword out to the noise, but to Tommy and Tubbo’s surprise and relief, they recognized the group who emerged.

Wilbur, Techno, and Phil stumbled in through the darkness, slightly out of breath and ready for a fight. The three assessed what they saw, Phil even rubbed his eyes before the three looked between each other, “What the fuck?” They said in unison.

The new guy dropped his bloody short swords and raised his arms, “Okay, I realize this might look bad.”

“Yeah, it does dipshit,” Phil’Za said, raising his sword out, “Who are you and what did you do to them?” He demanded.

Tommy and Tubbo’s mysterious savior spoke, “Uhh well, I’m uhh… Deo,” he responded, making Phil suspicious as he seemed to hesitate on such a simple question, “And I’m the goblin king,” He said sarcastically, before taking the hint and answering honestly, “Uhh and long story short, I just saved your son’s ass, and his friend, from a bunch of goblins.”

Phil still hadn't lowered his sword, “How do you know he is my son?” he questioned.

“Oh well you see, it’s a pretty funny story,” He said, rocking awkwardly on his feet, “I was stationed in your palace sir, in the walls, and I saw them leaving. I figured I had best follow them to see where they were going, and since they never tuned out, neither did I.”

Behind him, Tommy cast a snarky glance over at Tubbo who shook his head, “Don’t say it, don’t say it,” he begged quietly.

“Tree stalker mannnn,” Tommy mumbled, just loud enough for Tubbo to hear, who groaned and tried to roll over before remembering he was in fact, in immense pain.

“We’ll deal with all that later,” Phil insisted, he looked over at his companions and nodded. Techno stood still, staring at Deo, but Phil and Wilbur ran over to Tommy and Tubbo.  
Techno gave Deo a questioning stare, only seeing himself in the man’s dark glasses. Deo held the stare before turning around to see what he could do to help. Techno was soon to follow.  
Luckily neither of their injuries were too bad, Tommy had a deeper cut on his cheek and they were both fairly bruised up, but they would be fine.

Well assuming Phil, Wilbur, and Techno don’t kill them themselves.


	7. chapter six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw// arguing

Some many minutes were spent checking over Tommy and Tubbo, with Deo insisting he was fine. Once Techno had given Phil a nod, signaling they were both in fair enough condition, Phil beckoned Tommy over to the tent that he and Tubbo shared.

Tommy knew what was coming when he limped over to Phil who led him back behind the tent. Phil placed the torch in the ground and let out a long, disappointing sign. “Well,” he started.

Tommy tried to fight back against saying anything, he really did, but alas, he is Tommy, “You’re a bitch, I hope you’re aware of that,” Tommy hissed, crossing his arms and rocking from his heels to his toes.

“Tommy… I- well I’m glad you're alright. But what the hell are you doing out here? How did you even make it this far? How do you-”

“Well, Phil’Za, I’m not an idiot, contrary to popular belief,” Tommy held himself back as he heard his father scoff, “I hoped that you wouldn’t use your weird-ass spooky brainwashing magic, but look what happened. Kristin gave me some kind of magical rock thing that protects me from that,” Tommy explained, rolling his sleeve up to show his dad the cuff.

“I’m a great liar when I need to be, what can I say,” Tommy said, giving his father a boastful sneer. “So you know, I did some snooping, got some anonymous sources, gathered Tubbo, and set off. Do you think I would want to miss something like this? No!”

“Tommy- I… I don’t even know where to start with how thoughtless and irresponsible that entire story is. Do you even pause to think there was a reason I didn’t want you coming along, Tommy?” Phil exclaimed.

“Oh, whatever! It’s always “oh Tommy you’re so young and fragile! Don’t you see how big and scary the world is? You aren’t ready!” When Techno was literally leading battalions into wars at my age. I’m so tired of you and all the others in the fae thinking so much lesser of me because I’m a fuckin’ mortal. I get it! I get it I get it I get it! You don’t have to tell me because I am reminded literally every single day I spend on this godforsaken plane!” Tommy yelled, his voice broke under the pressure but he held it all together the best he could.

“What are you going to do? Huh? Fucken send me right back home with that fucken mindless shit? Just assign me to be like the rest of them, forever stuck inside their own mind? Yeah, I’m sure you would love to.”

Phil took a step back, surprised by his son’s sudden outburst. He let the silence resonate while Tommy caught his breath before he spoke, “Tommy, is that why you’re doing this? Because you feel like you need to prove yourself-” 

“God, you finally figured it out, congratulations!” Tommy snarled, “Everyone keeps telling me some ominous fuckin shit about this and that and how “Oh you’re destined for so much!” just to keep me locked up in some pretty little palace in the middle of nowhere!”

Phil reached out his arm and pressed down on Tommy’s shoulder, “Tommy,” He said stoically. Tommy didn’t meet his eyes but he didn’t start yelling again either, that was good enough, “I’m sorry.”

“Oh yeah? Oh, I’m sooo so-” Phil cut his son off before he could rant any further.

“Tommy, please calm down. I’m sorry about what I did and I’m sorry that you feel like that,” Phil let out a little sigh before continuing, “I know you’ve heard me say it before, but I only wanted you to stay because I wanted to keep you safe,” Phil told him.

“I have no plans to send you back as long as you behave, Tommy. As long as you and Tubbo don’t slow us down, then I don’t see why you can’t stay with us. You just have to listen for once in your life,” Phil explained. 

Tommy narrowed his eyes, “Well to be fair-” he started but Phil cut him off again.

“Will you behave, Tommy? that’s all I need to know,” Phil stated stoically.

Tommy quieted down for a minute, looking around on the ground and giving his dad a small nod, “Yeah… I will,” he mumbled.

“Alright,” Phil said, pulling Tommy into a side hug and patting him on the back. “Just… try for me. I believe in you.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, “Whatever,” he mumbled, pulling himself away from Phil. 

Phil walked back from around the tent and Tommy followed suit. “Well, since your little campsite is well… compromised, I think you should pick up your stuff and horses and what not and head over to our site,” Phil suggested to the group.

Tommy scurried over to Tubbo, and they nodded, “That sounds like a good idea if all of you are alright with that,” Tubbo responded cheerfully, looking between Phil, Wilbur, and Techno.

Phil nodded and Wilbur shrugged. Techno seemed hesitant but shrugged and shifted his attention to something else, “That’s fine and all, but what about him?” Techno asked, looking over to Deo who was attending to a cut on his arm.

Deo looked up from his arm and towards the group and gave them a small wave before going back to fixing himself up.

“I mean he just saved us, I think he should stick around,” Tommy suggested, waving back at Deo. “You guys should have seen it, he came from the trees and shit with fire.”

Deo sat in silence while Phil and Wilbur nodded to one another. “Sure, that seems like a fair assumption. I mean he was saying how he had been following you guys since the beginning so however he has keeping up, it’s working,” Wilbur explained, looking over at Deo for a response. 

“Oh uh, yeah, I have a horse. And a little campsite. Pretty quaint, nothing much,” Deo explained, looking over the hill to the side of the site. “You guys don’t owe me anything, you don’t have to keep me around.”

Phil shook his head, “No no, we really owe it to you if you are interested in sticking around. I mean we’re close to halfway across the continent, so it’s your call whether you would like to turn back.”

Deo thought for a moment, nodding to himself as he weighed his options. He looked between Tommy and Tubbo, and then the rest of the group, then back to Tommy and Tubbo before looking back at Phil and giving him a nod, “Sure, I don’t know why I wouldn’t stick around.”

Tommy and Tubbo quietly high fived each other and Phil gave him a smile, “Wonderful, we need all the capable hands we can get.”

Deo laughed and stood up from where he was sitting, “Well, you guys said we were heading over to your site? The sun won’t be up for five or six more hours I would bet so we might all be able to get some more sleep.”

They all nodded, Techno looked across the group, “Alright, uhh Deo? Deo, I think you said your name was, you go get your stuff while we help these two,” He said, pointing at the younger duo, “Get all packed up, then we’ll head over. And it might be a smart idea to have someone stand watch, but we can decide that once we all get situated.”

The group nodded and dispersed. Deo must have been telling the truth when he said he packed light as he was back within half an hour with a bag or two and a satchel packed onto his steed. When he returned, Phil asked him to gather the duo’s horses as well as they got the tents packed up.

It didn’t take too much longer for Wilbur and Phil to be leading the group back to their original site. Tommy and Tubbo scuffled with each other, Tommy avoiding Phil like the plague for most of it, their previous argument still rustling around in his mind. Meanwhile, Techno and Deo walked behind the rest in silence, simply leading the horses and listening for anything else unusual. 

The rest of the night passed with ease. They quickly set up Tommy and Tubbo’s tent and gave them an extra blanket or two, not bothering to unpack their stuff. Deo revealed he didn’t even have a tent, just a hammock and a tarp which he could set up in minutes, and Techno took it upon himself to stand guard for the rest of the night.

And so, night passed. Dark hours fell into those of warm light and birds started chirping all about. Techno sighed as he looked at their mishmash of a group and couldn’t help but laugh a little. Maybe Tommy wouldn’t be such a bad addition anyway.

Either way, a few parties had some explaining to do. How Tommy managed to anger an entire clan of goblins, they would all like to find out, or how Deo knew their plans… there was a lot to find out, but for now, Techno just had to trust… something he was never very good at.


	8. chapter seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw// arguing

“-And you see, there was this weird little dead duck thing in the middle of the forest so I just took it,” Tommy explained, watching as his companion’s faces twisted with confusion.

“You took it?” Phil exclaimed, chucking as his son continued.

“Well- yeah. So I took it, you see I thought it was weird because it was already bleeding, and you know, it was a duck in the middle of the forest, but I’m not here to judge what a duck gets up to in it’s day to day life,” the stale disappointed and laughable confusion spread across the group pushed Tommy to continue.

“Anyways, so if what Deo was saying is right, that is probably what you know… gathered the goblins.”

“That… I knew you were stupid Tommy, but really?” Techno said, hitting his brother lightly across the head.

“Hey! Rude! Uncalled for!” Tommy whined.

Then, just like Techno, Phil also hit him lightly across the head, “Your brother is right Tommy, that was absolutely a stupid thing to do- that’s like, I don’t even know, just idiotic,” Phil commented with a laugh. 

“Hey! You can’t only blame me! I mean Tubbo let me go through with keeping it and I mean Deo was probably watching me! Creepy ass bitch-” Tommy complained, furrowing his brow as he looked over at Deo and Tubbo for explanations.

“Well-” Tubbo started but was quickly cut off by a quiet laugh from Deo.

“I mean I could have stopped you, you’re not wrong. I just thought it was funny,” Deo deadpanned. Tommy craned his head back and dramatically slapped his hand across his chest.

“Whaat? Why? I could have died, Deo! Died I tell you.”

“With how big of a deal you’re making of this maybe I should have let you,” Deo chuckled.

“Are you guys not going to do anything about this?” Tommy said, turning around to face his father and brother. “He basically just threatened me but like, in the past-” Tommy argued dramatically.

“No. No, no, it’s pretty funny,” Techno commented as Phil nodded with a small smile.

“This is exactly why I set off with Tubbo! Tubbo wouldn’t make fun of me,” Tommy suggested, casting his gaze over to his friend.

“Ehhhhh,” Tubbo said, shrugging, “I mean… it definitely wasn’t… your smartest move,” Tubbo paused to think for a moment, “But I mean, you also almost lost our horses… twice? Twice I think,” He explained.

“You what?” Phil exclaimed, “How? How did you almost lose your horses, Tommy?” He asked.

Tommy avoided Phil’s question as he narrowed his eyes at his friend, “Well at least I didn’t almost fucking get swept away by a river because “Oooh! I didn’t see it!” How do you not see a whole ass river, Tubbo?” 

“It was dark!” Tubbo exclaimed.

“Barely! It was like sunset, not like midnight!” Tommy shot back. “Plus we had already been there for like an hour, we stopped there for a reason, Tubbo.”

“Oh my god, I can’t deal with you two anymore,” Phil said, jokingly rolling his eyes. “How about we speed up a little? We’ve been walking for half an hour or so.”

They all nodded and prepared themselves for the sprint. A large field opened up in front of them that seemed to go on for a few miles with minimal trees or streams around. “We’ll run across the field here and group back together on the other side and keep up a nice pace,” Phil instructed, looking out across the group, “Ready? Stuff secured? Horses alright?” Phil asked, getting a myriad of nods and quiet yeps before turning his steed around, “Let’s run.”

Phil pushed his horse forward, rising up into a half-seat as his horse galloped up and down the low slopes. Soon enough, the thundering of hooves drowned out any other sounds around them as Techno and Tommy raced by their dad, yelling (Phil assumed insults) at each other as they raced. 

Phil collected the horse under him as he slowed down, letting Deo and Tubbo pass him as well as Phil aligned his horse with Wilbur’s. He wasn’t sure if his horse just wasn’t as fast as the rest or if Wil just chose not to dash off with the rest. Either way, Phil didn’t mind running beside him.

The thundering of hooves became melodics and Phil just had to say a prayer whenever he heard a distant shriek coming from some other member of their party. As they came near the forest edge, Phil gave Wilbur a small wave as he pushed his horse forward to try and catch up with Techno and Tommy. 

As they all started to slow down, Phil motioned for them to climb the hill beside where the forest rose up. At the top of the hill, they could see far in front of them and far behind them.

Behind them, they could see the incline they had all just ran up, and in front of them in the not too distant midground, giant blue mountains cut through the warm sunlight. It filled Phil with a confident warmth to look out into the mountains.

Phil turned his horse around to look at the group, “This is around the end of the mountain range, the mountains are pretty low and it’s easy to find well-enough beat paths for us to go across. I believe there might also be a few small villages dotted around. And on the other side of the mountains in the ocean that we will be crossing,” Phil informed them.

“We have a good few more hours before nightfall and we can get pretty close to the base of the mountain if we keep the pace quick enough.”

The group looked amongst themselves and nodded before turning their collective attention back to Phil and nodded at him as well. Phil smiled at the group and turned back around, “We’ll walk for a few minutes before picking up a faster pace,” He told them, starting the march down the hill.

And so they went forth. Mainly going between walking and trotting, sometimes a slow canter. They trekked through smaller meddles and through low forests. Mainly in silence, though a few conversations sprung up here and there. Hours passed before Phil gathered everyone around him in a nice clearing where they would set up camp.

Techno once again volunteered to go hunting, and Phil suggested (or begged depending on who you ask) for him to bring Tommy along with him. So with a little back and forth between the two, Tommy and Techno set off to hunt.

Phil, Wilbur, and Tubbo started setting up all the tents and dealing with the horses while Deo started clearing a place for the fire. While everything was going smooth for those at camp, Techno and Tommy were not having as easy of a time.

Out in the distant ad ever-darkening forest, Techno stealthily walked across the forest floor while Tommy followed… not quite so quietly. He tried, he really did, it’s just he wasn’t nearly as quiet as his brother, no matter how hard he tried. He just tried to ignore it as his brother’s expression became more and more annoyed.

Nonetheless, Tommy tried his best as he kept up with his brother. They wandered in silence deeper into the forest until Techno stopped abruptly. Tommy took the hint as Techno tapped on his ear.

The distant sound of running water is what Tommy assumed Techno picked up on, as he was pretty sure his brother started walking towards the source. It got ever so slightly louder and louder until they found the source; a little stream, so wider than five feet and no deeper than half a foot at most. It wasn’t much, but it gave the perfect setting for many forest creatures.

Techno beckoned Tommy to follow him as he disappeared into some low underbrush beside the river. Tommy begrudgingly bent into the shrubs as well, pointlessly flailing his arms about as he crouched next to his brother.

Some time passed as Techno fiddled around with the crossbow he had brought with him. It was getting darker, but Techno seemed to be able to see well enough. Tommy however, did not have as well-adapted eyes as his brother in the darkness. 

But, Tommy wasn’t deaf. He heard the soft crunching of leaves under what sounded like small hooves. Techno looked over at Tommy with a small nod as he started to slowly move forward. 

Techno laid eyes on the target. A nice sized stag that would well feed the whole group of them. He pulled his crossbow up and aimed it. He was about to shoot when Tommy lost his balance while trying to crouch like his brother was and made a loud rustle of leaves, and knocked his brother’s shot off course.

The stag, and the few deer that followed him bolted. Techno shot up out of the bush and tried to throw the spear that Tommy had been holding but to no use. 

Techno angrily shot around, eyes narrowing on his brother who was standing up beside him, clearly avoiding his brother’s eye. “What the hell, Tommy?” he demanded. 

“I- uhh I’m sorry-” Tommy tried to apologize, but Techno cut him off.

“Tommy, you might have just completely fucked us over, alright? I don’t want to hear another peep from you,” Techno demanded. Tommy took a subconscious step away from his brother as he continued to raise his voice.

“Oh my god Techno, you’re acting like it’s the end of the fucking world! It’s just a deer!” Tommy exclaimed. 

“Oh, it’s just a deer. Yeah, this time! But next time we might be sneaking up on the enemy, and then you fall again? Then what Tommy? We would be screwed,” Techno demanded.

“Well, I just wouldn’t fall then! Techno it was a simple mistake and I promise I won’t do it again-” 

“This is why you’re a liability, Tommy. You just get in my way and mess things up. You are useless,” Techno deadpanned. 

Tommy stammered over his words, trying to find a retaliation to his brother’s accusation, but couldn’t. Tommy let out a shaky sigh as he looked back down onto the ground and nodded, “Alright. Yeah, that’s fine. That's understandable. I’ll just head back.”

Techno didn’t say anything as he watched his brother walk back towards the camp. He just watched until his brother was out of sight, then continued on with his hunting. Someone had to.

Once Tomy was out of Techno’s sights, he picked up his pace to a jog as he ran through the quiet forest. He remembered the way back fine as he traced over his previous steps back to the site. 

Tommy had decided that his brother was just tired. The man hadn’t slept the night prior while standing guard after the whole goblin thing, so it makes sense, right? He doesn’t really mean that. Sure, Tommy didn’t always make the best decisions, but if it was down to life or death, he would be able to make the right decision, yeah?

Tommy shuddered. Without anyone’s company to keep his mind off of it, the chill in the air crept into his person. Tommy sped up his pace. Maybe Techno was right, and Phil too. Clearly, neither of them wanted him to be here. 

While that idea pushed the logical side down into sadness, it pushed Tommy’s well, Tommy side further. He had the intense urge to prove them wrong. And he would. He would prove to everyone, not just his family, to everyone that Tommy was capable.

But not tonight. Tonight he would be forced to wallow in his own self-pity and whatnot. Tommy soon enough stumbled back into their campsite. He swooped in to sit beside Tubbo, who was struggling to put the rainfly over the top of their tent. He quickly helped his friends before pulling him over to the fire that Deo had successfully assembled, with places for everyone to sit as well.

Wilbur sent Tommy a questioning look, and Tommy flicked his hand and shook his head, “Techno will be back in a bit. He just sent me back because I was a burden or something,” Tommy explained casually. 

Phil raised his eyebrows like he was going to say something encouraging but Tommy cut him off, “Oh no, don’t worry, I’ve already had my inner monologue. I’m over it.”

Phil shook his head with a small laugh as he finished getting some little things set in place before coming to sit down with the rest.

They all chatted a bit amongst themselves, throwing quips across to each other as Deo stood in mostly silence, leaning on the fire poker and occasionally prodding at the flame.

It wasn’t too much longer before Techno came back with a pair of wild turkeys slung over his back and crossbow in his other hand. The group quickly went to retrieve the fowls from him and begin to prepare them. Tommy helped in silence as Phil cast Techno disappointed looks. 

Nonetheless, the night went on. They gathered around the fire and cooked their meals and chatted and sang. Tubbo had an entertaining time trying to learn how to play Wilbur’s flute that he had carved at some point and Tommy enjoyed making fun of his friends. 

Wilbur went around, talking to Techno and Phil and Tubbo and even Deo some. He enjoyed learning about his companions, and while he learned Deo wasn’t much of a talker, he did have some interesting stories from far off lands, much like himself.

After their conversation, Deo seemed a little more drawn to conversation. He and Phil spoke for a while that night a little bit outside of the group. At some point, Techno joined them as well as Wilbur went to bully the children. 

“Well as long as my memory isn’t absolutely horrible, I believe there is a village pretty close to this place. I vaguely recognize that mountain from my travels around here. I’d say it’s 20 miles away? There's probably a tavern where we could get a nice rest,” Deo told them, looking at the map Techno had sprawled out on the floor.

“Oh, that would be nice,” Phil agreed, “I think we all need a break from the travel, including the horses,” He added.

Techno also nodded. Deo pointed to a spot on the map, “I don’t know how old this map is, but that’s where I remember it being. It’s grown a lot recently,” He told them.

They all nodded and Phil leaned back to stretch his arms out, “Alright,” He took a short pause as he yawned, “Well I guess we know where we’re heading tomorrow.”


	9. chapter eight

Phil had always found the sparkle of dew on grass dazzling. He enjoyed the time he had been spending outside as of recent; it reminded him of days long past now when he traveled around the globe with his brothers. But the group he now traveled with sufficed. Peculiar, most certainly, but a very entertaining group.

The call of birds and groggy mumbled of his party mates were the only sounds that broke through the morning’s perfection. Looking around, he saw Techno already up and ready and heard Tubbo rustling around, probably trying to wake up Tommy.

What caught his eye that morning was Deo. He had seemed to have woken up recently with the rest of them, but with a little glance behind him and a wave to Techno, he headed off into the woods.

There was a lot to learn about the man. How long he had been working at the palace, how he knew about the towns, who the group he traveled with before was, and of course why he always wore the same tinted glasses. The lenses looked closer to being made out of obsidian than glass, but Deo commented on colors and shapes and light, so presumably, he could in fact see.

Tommy had tried to ask about the glasses a few times, along with trying to snag his hat off his head, but he was yet to succeed with either of these tasks. Deo just carefully dodged around the question or gave ridiculous answers, so the rest of the group just took it as a hit that he was uncomfortable with whatever the real answer was. 

Phil wasn’t usually one to let his curiosity get the best of him, but when faced with hours of silent travel, Phil had gotten a lot of time to speculate and ponder. Without much thought, Phil quietly followed after Deo as he went further and further into the forest.

It was relaxing, for the most part. The soft swaying of the towering trees and how the light cut through them. The distant sound of a gurgling stream grew closer and closer until Deo had found himself in front of a pooling part of the local brook. 

Phil watched in intrigue. Deo sat himself down by the stream and slipped his hat off of his head and ran his fingers through his matted and coiled hair. He played around with the water in front of him, washing his hands off before moving them to his face and slipping his glasses off and into the hat beside him. 

For some reason, Phil almost felt taken aback by his companion taking the lenses off his face for what must have been the first time in days. It’s not like any of them got much alone time and as far as he was aware, no one had seen him with the glasses off. 

Deo proceeded to wash his face and then watch as the soft rippling of the water calmed down. Once the pool was staid again he seemed to simply watch himself in his reflection. Phil watched and waited for something to happen, but nothing more ever came. 

The serenity of the moment was interrupted by the distant shriek of one of their party members. It wasn’t one of distress, more likely Wilbur or Tommy pulling a prank on someone else, but it seemed to bring Deo out of his entranced state by the water. Phil took this as his moment to reveal himself. He stepped across the crunchy leaves that covered the forest floor, making sure Deo was aware of his approach. 

Deo swerved his head around, relaxing back down as soon as he realized it was one of his party members, but quickly swerving his head back around as he scrambled his hands across the ground to grab his glasses, “Uh, oh- Hello sir,” He stammered, slipping the glasses onto his face and quickly standing himself up.

Phil nodded at him with a smile, “I’ve told you before, just call me Phil, Deo,” he commented.

“Oh yeah- Uh sorry… Phil,” He corrected, still fumbling over trying to not call him sir, “Old habits die hard I guess.”

Phil chuckled, “That is how the saying goes. Anyways; I just wanted to let you know that we’ll be leaving soon enough, so don’t be too long out here,” Phil informed him, a partial lie of course, but alas. 

“Oh yeah, yeah alright. I’m ready to head back now actually, just needed a break,” Deo told him, combing his hair back with his fingers and placing his signature hat back across his head. 

Phil nodded and stood around, waiting for Deo to begin walking back. They stood around in awkward silence for a moment as Deo dusted himself off and walked over. As they walked back, Phil couldn’t stop himself anymore, “Well Deo, riddle me this if you will, are you a human?” Phil regretted it as soon as he said it, but there wasn’t much he could do at that point. 

Deo paused, “Well sir- erm Phil, Phil’Za, as you are technically my boss, I’m obliged to not lie to you. I’m also pretty sure you could tell if I lied to you. No, I’m not. Never was either,” Deo told him.

“Well, If you don’t mind me asking, why the glasses? I just assumed you were afraid, like Tommy, of getting enchanted,” Phil told him honestly. 

Deo almost seemed amused as he answered, “Oh, no no, it’s actually quite ironic, that. I wear them for quite the opposite reason, not for my protection, but for others,” Deo informed Phil. He must have seen Phil’s confusion as he was quick to continue, “I’m telling you this because I trust you, Phil. If Tommy or Tubbo anybody else asked I would avoid the question, but I don’t think we’re that different.” Deo chuckled “Long story short, I’m a gorgon.”

A lot of paths connected at that moment for Phil. He couldn't help but laugh a little, “Well, I can see why you would want to keep that under wraps, Deo.” Phil said. His reaction seemed to take a weight off of his companion’s back.

“I’ve seen a lot of things in my time on this plane, Phil’Za. Hell, I’ve been around here about as long as you have. Me and my brothers- we would just go from place to place across the globe, like you and your brothers one did, we just never stopped I guess,” Deo told him, “There aren't many places where we can settle. Nobody wants a gorgon around too long, so whenever we get found out we usually have to move.”

Phil nodded solemnly, “I see. Thank you for telling me Deo, thank you for trusting me,” Phil told him with a smile, “You’re always welcome around.”

Deo smiled, “Thank you.”

Deo might be a man of few words, but the words he did share most certainly intrigued Phil. As they emerged back into the campsite area, Phil was pleasantly surprised to see that it was in fact, not burned down, and they were almost all packed up. Phil gave Deo a small wave as they parted ways across the site to get the last of their site and to get the horses loaded up. 

And once again, it wasn’t long until the party was mounted up and on the road again, this time with the sights of the village Deo had suggested in mind. 

The party was lively that day. They were traveling up the lowest mountain at a steady pace, laughing and chatting as Tommy tried to rile Techno up with insults and teases, but Techno was very good at combating anything Tommy threw his way. 

Time passed with ease as the sun grew higher and higher into the sky then started to lower. Only a few hours after midday, the scenic planes and forests cleared out into impossibly long wheat and barley fields as the humming of civilization grew in their ears. 

They started to actually pass people, they waved to farmers tending their crops and merchants in stands who were looking for a place to keep their livestock while in town. And soon enough the low walls of the city glowed on the horizon. 

It wasn’t a huge city; mainly built by travelers who never planned to stay for as long as they did, but it was growing and had a fair bit of traffic for how desolate the surrounding miles had seemed.

Phil couldn't help but smile as relief and energy ran through his party. Tommy and Tubbo buzzed to one another as Deo, Wilbur, and Techno spoke amongst themselves. Deo pulled ahead beside Phil and led him off to a few stalls that were right outside the walls. 

“Steeds are only allowed inside the walls during the mornings and dusk so that merchants can cart their stuff around, but a lot of the inns own stables and pastures for their clients,” Deo informed him.“This place is owned by an old friend who we’ll be visiting and staying with,” Deo continued, leading the group into a well-kept barn. “Just untack, turn your horses out, and grab your stuff,” Deo directed the party.

They all skipped along, throwing their bags across their backs and saddles onto racks. The horses seemed happier as well, seeming to enjoy being able to run across the incline to being tied up throughout the night. Once they were sure they had gotten everyone’s belongings, Deo escorted them into the city.

It couldn’t have been much later than four in the evening by the time they were inside the walls. Daylight was plentiful as well as population. The sweet smell of bread and foods not prepared on a campfire wafted through the air as merchants flung their arms around with handmade robes and threads and whatnot. Phil drug Tommy along beside him to prevent the boy from getting any malicious ideas. 

They walked down the streets, dodging through other groups and a few careless chickens. Deo led them in front of a pleasant building with a sign that hung in front reading something about ‘Tavern & Inn’. He pushed open the door and beckoned the party through the door. 

It was a little cramped for the whole group to be standing in the entrance area, but they seemed to make it. To the left of the entrance, a wing opened up into a bar type area that also had some items for sale, the wing opposite it there was a large dining area. Behind the counter, there was a staircase that presumably led up into the rooms, and right behind the desk, there was another room in which a man emerged at the sound of the bell above the door.

The man who emerged stood about as tall as Deo, he had short brown hair with fuzzy mutton chops across his chin, a small smirk, and a pair of curled ram horns that protrude from his temples. He quickly looked at the curious party that stood in front of him.

“Oh hey- Hello there everybody! Uh, Deo? Is that you?” He started but was interrupted.

“Schlatt?” Wilbur called out, taken aback but happy.

The satyr looked through the party and landed his eyes on Wilbur, “Wilbur! Oh my gods, it's you!” He exclaimed, moving himself out from behind the counter and hugged his apparent old friend. 

Deo looked between the two, confused and surprised, “You two know each other?”

Schlatt pulled himself back from Wilbur and sat himself down onto the counter, his goatlike legs now very apparent, “Oh yeah, we go way back. Wilbur joined us on a few tours around like you did before we ended up here,” Schlatt told him. 

“Here, hold up a moment,” Schlatt said, walking back around and through the door, he had originally emerged from and called out some names. Soon enough, two others emerged with the goat man. 

“Ah, it’s getting pretty crowded in here-” One of them commented. Schlatt nodded, “Well, we’ve got some familiar faces among them. Charlie, why don’t you show them up to any rooms we have available and let them get settled, then you guys can come on down and we can chat some more,” He told them, motioning for one of the people he just called for, Charlie, towards the stairs. He nodded and led them up the stairs.  
The rooms took up two floors with the tavern part all spread out across the bottom. They all got sorted into rooms, Tommy and Tubbo still ended up in the same room, taking up the room with two beds in it since everyone else wanted a room to themselves.

Soon enough they were all back down in the dining area. Wilbur, Deo, and Schlatt were all sitting in chairs beside the fireplace, talking about who knows what.

Techno was sitting by himself, having picked up a book from the shelves and started reading it. Knowing him he had already read whatever it was, but he seemed to be doing alright with that. Tommy and Tubbo soon enough came fumbling down the stairs, chatting about this, that, and the other, casting suspicious glances over at Schlatt.

The person who led them up to the rooms, Charlie, came out of the door under the stairs again and called everyone over to the table and sat everyone down. 

“Well, howdy everyone!,” He announced, “Thank you all for staying with us tonight! I’m Charlie, you guys already met Schlatt, Big Q is somewhere around here, and so is Conner,” He told the group, “Welcome to town everyone! You guys have at least three more good hours of daylight and then we’ll be serving dinner, but until then feel free to explore or ask us any questions,” He told them, laying a map out across the table, then started marking out points in the city.

But something felt… off about it all to Phil. Maybe he was paranoid, it’s been a good few hundred years since he’s really been out and about like this, but there are so many things that just didn’t make sense to him.

He looked around the table, there was Tommy, who was discretely staring at Schlatt with out of place wonder. There were Wilbur and Deo who were chatting with the person Charlie deemed, “Big Q” about their past adventures with the crew. Techno was looking through a stack of books all about the same group of adventurers who sat on top of an altar to a person named Connar, but hadn’t they just said that Connar works here? Why would they have a shrine to a still-living person? 

Questions about the shady group they would be staying with built up more and more the more Phil looked around. In the store part, they had extremely menial objects for unreasonable prices and then objects that he hadn’t known possible to obtain. 

Maybe Phil was just tired from the non-stop travel. He tried to shake it off as Deo mysteriously disappeared under the circumstances that, ‘He had business to attend’. Phil just tried his best to keep his mind out of conspiracies. He wandered over to Techno and Tommy who were both intently listening to Schlatt.

“Hey guys, do you guys want to go walk around town some before it gets dark? We probably won’t be around too long tomorrow-” Phil asked them.

“Oh no, I’ll just hang around here,” Tommy insisted. Odd, Phil pointed out in his mind, Tommy seemed like one of the most likely to want to meet people. 

“Are you sure Tommy? We probably won’t see many more people for the next week-” Phil tried again, but once again, was shot down by Tommy.

“Yeah, why not let him stick around? He can’t get into much trouble in the tavern,” Schlatt told him, a strange smirk stuck on his face, “He clearly wants to stick around with me.”

“I’ll go with you, Dad,” Techno insisted, standing between Phil and Schlatt.

Phil took his eyes off of Schlatt and towards Techno and paused before nodding, “Alright, let’s go,” he quickly insisted. Techno nodded and walked towards the door onto the street and Phil followed after him, “Don’t burn anything down, Tommy,” Phil called out behind him before he walked out onto the busy street.

Phil and Techno walked in silence for a block, aimlessly looking through street shops and windows, then Phil pulled Techno aside.

“Something is definitely off about that place, right?” Phil asks, hoping to confirm his suspicions. 

Techno looked down at him, then across his shoulder with a nod, “Oh, definitely. Something is way off,” He commented. 

Phil let out a sigh he wasn’t even aware he was holding it. He pinched the bridge of his nose, “I’ve just had a bad feeling about it- Not the town or the people in specific, I just feel like there is something big we’re missing about these people. Like what are the chances of Deo and Wilbur knowing these guys? They are from opposite sides of the continent-” Phil rambled. 

Techno nodded, “A lot of things don’t make sense. I don’t know what Tommy knows that we don’t either- He clearly seems to think he knows who those people are.”

Phil shook his head, “Yeah, I've got nothing for you. It’s almost like they’ve mind-controlled him or something,” Phil commented.

“But that wouldn’t make sense, especially if he’s able to get out of your mind control stuff with that thing Kristin gave him, so unless it’s able to go around that, it’s gotta just be him,” Techno insisted. 

Phil shrugged, “I honestly have no idea, but we can check on it later. Whatever is going on, Schlatt was probably right in saying Tommy can cause less havoc inside the tavern. Let's just keep looking around,” Phil insisted.

And so they continued down the streets of the trading post town, picking up a few items for their future travels as well as a nick-nack or two for their troubles. 

They dilly-dallied around town as best they could for an hour and a half or two, just trying to stall on time before dinner. But just as they had pushed their worries behind them, they were greeted by an unusual sight; Before them, Tommy and Tubbo were standing behind a man with a cutlass in his hand, which were also raised because a cutlass was also being pointed towards the three of them. That was never good.

Phil alerted Techno to the situation in front of them as they sped up their pace towards the three, but as they came upon them, the man with his hands in the air’s voice became more clear.

“Heyyyy guys! It’s just me, no reason to be pointing those,” the man started with an uneasy chuckle, pushing the sharp point of the sword towards the ground, “We do this all the time guys, no need to do this today.” he stated simply.

The man he was talking to grunted, “You need to stop dragging people into your schemes, sir. Especially helpless children. You’re going to seriously hurt someone someday.”

“hEY!” Tommy shouted but the man defending them motioned for him to shut up, “What are you actually going to do, come on? You can’t actually do anything against me,” He stated with an obnoxious smirk.

The law enforcement sighed and put his sword back into its sheath and mumbled something about blatant corruption. “You’re out this time, Q. Watch it.”

‘Q’ gave him a snarky little wave as he walked away. Once he had turned away from them, he turned back to Tommy and Tubbo with a smile and threw them some little trinket, “Bitches can’t do anything against us here.”

“What the fuck was that, Tommy?” Phil demanded, storming up to the three with Techno close behind him, “What the- the hell? What was that?”

Tommy looked at Phil in surprise, then looked between Phil, Techno, and ‘Q’, “Oh… heyyyyy Phil,” Tommy mumbled, looking back down at the group.

“What the fuck? I thought you were going to stay in the inn with the rest? Phil demanded.

“Okay well yeah… And then you Techno left for like two hours! So Big Q here said he would show us something cool! And he did!” Tommy tried to explain, throwing his hands around as he went. 

“Is something cool almost getting arrested, Tommy? Cause that is not a good first impression on a town-”

“Oh, first impression this, first impression that, if I hear that stupid goddamnsayingfromyouaga-” Tommy started to do his shout-ramble act behind Big Q reached back and put his hand on Tommy’s shoulder.

“Dude, chill, I got this,” He insisted, looking back over at Phil. By the looks of it, he was some kind of robot creation. He looked almost human except for the strangely colored skin and the fact that instead of a face, he had an off-center, face-shaped, smiling mask. “Look, sir, I was just showing your sons here around town and he got misconstrued as some local wrongins and-”

Phil pinched his nose and let out a sign, “Tubbo isn’t- you know what? doesn’t matter. Tubbo? I’m disappointed. Tommy? I'm also disappointed but not surprised,” Phil said curtly. He pulled out his pocket watch and sighed an internal sigh of relief, “Alright, it’s time to head back for dinner. I’ll gloss over this, for now, let’s just get back,” He insisted.

Big Q nodded and walked through Phil and Techno into the street, “Right this way, boys.” Phil waited for Tommy and Tubbo to walk in front of him to follow. They stayed quiet for most of the trek back, occasionally mumbling something to the other and they would chuckle. 

When they walked through the door, Tommy perked right back up again as he waved at Schlatt who was reading a paper in the front lobby. He and Tubbo started walking towards him, but Phil told them to go sit at the table. Big Q looked over his shoulder as he left Phil, Techno, and Schlatt in the little lobby, making some little sign with his hands towards his apparent boss before disappearing around the corner with the duo.

Schlatt put his paper down and leaned forward towards the two waiting in the foyer in front of him. “Well boys, is there something I can help you with? You look agitated.” He stated.

Without thinking about it, Phil grabbed one of the daggers on his belt and stuck it straight up in the wood desk that separated him from the satyr, “I’m done with this bullshit, who the hell are you, and what did you do to them?” Phil demanded. 

Schlatt’s eyes flickered between Techno and Phil as a small smirk grew on his face, “Well if this was the first time I had been on the other side of a dagger, Mr. Phil’Za, perhaps I would feel threatened. But alas, it is not. You should step up your game if you are planning on traveling where I assume you will be traveling.” The goat hybrid stated calmly.

“Anyways, I didn’t do anything to your kiddos over there. They’re the ones interested in me. I just care enough to give them the time of day,” he stated coldly.

“And I’m just supposed to believe that?” Phil hissed. 

The stoic man shrugged, “I can’t tell you what to and not to believe, but I can tell you the truth. I’m just a friendly tavern owner who gives advice to adventurers. Here’s what I’ll give you; keep a closer hold on your assets. If I had malicious intentions I could take down basically your entire party if I wanted to. All it takes is a name and charisma. I mean, that’s basically Wilbur but- I digress. If you want to know who I am, I’ll tell you.”

That seemed much more like a threat than an offer, but before Phil could get another word in, Schlatt slipped away into the dining hall after Big Q. 

Phil let out a deep sigh and bit his lip, looking back at Techno who seemed just as anxious. After a moment's hesitation, Phil and Techno followed into the next room too.

Everyone else was already seated. By the looks of it at some point, Deo had returned and was sitting quietly beside Wilbur who was seated to one side of Schlatt. Schlatt was just sitting himself down, laughing at something Wilbur was saying. Techno and Phil eyed the room carefully and sat themselves down at the large table. 

“Well, it’s good to see everyone here!” Schlatt announced, standing back up, “It’s been brought to my attention that some people don’t quite know who I- we are” Schlatt began, looking directly down the table at Phil. “And since we have someone as talented as Wil with us tonight, I thought we could do a little throwback here,” He said eagerly, casting his eyes over to Wilbur who already had a guitar of sorts across his lap. Oh boy. 

[song; Riddle of the Sphinx by The Mechanisms]

“I thought myself an orphan. I clawed my way up from the streets, to earn my rank of doctor. Equal to any I should meet. How could I know my fame arose from sly Olympian winks? And soon I'd match myself against the riddle of the Sphinx.” Schlatt started.

“Four legs in the morning, two legs in the day, three legs in the evening, as body and mind decays,” Charlie began beside him.  
“A mad disease striking poverty in the slums no-one cares about. In its host causes rapid growth in just weeks they will die. Children then look as aged men, but have not learned the words to cry, an old withered corpse, yet a child.” Schlatt sang again.  
“Four legs in the morning, two legs in the day, three legs in the evening as body and mind decays,” Charlie once again sang.  
“Years I spent in experiment dissecting its chemistry. Endless tests finally yield success with the compounds I need. A consequence, baleful oxidants from Olympian eternity, they had to know what it leads to.”  
“Four legs in the morning, two legs in the day, three legs in the evening, as body and mind decays”  
“Come, don't make a fuss, your research takes a dangerous path. Take a pause, find another cause, this will end in your fall. Whoe'er you be if you threaten me, I warn you will feel my wrath. Don't interfere with my calling.”  
“Four legs in the morning, two legs in the day, three legs in the evening, as body and mind decays. Four legs in the morning, two legs in the day, three legs in the evening, as body and mind decays”  
“Soon, the Olympians knew of what their immortality cost. They feigned their contrition, mourning the lives that had been lost. They swore they'd find a way that wouldn't lead to loss of life. They showered me with riches and introduced me to my wife” Schlatt finished off dramatically. 

Phil looked around with confusion, he swore he recognized the song. Clearly, Tommy did however, his eyes shone brightly with pride and happiness, “So I was right? You guys are the Old Company?” 

Schlatt looked over at him with a smile and a nod. Phil was almost certain Tommy could have died right there from sock and joy combined. 

“I knew it! Or well- I was pretty sure I knew it! Phil had these books that he used to read to me when I was a child about your adventures and-” He stopped mid-sentence without care and looked over at his dad, “Do you remember that? They were like my favorite of all times and-” He cut himself off mid-sentence again, “Wait but didn’t they all say you guys like, died or something?”

“Ehh, we just needed to get away from the press,” Charlie answered.

“It was a lot, we were getting tired and wanted to do something different so we faked our deaths and most of us split up. And well, one of us did die, so it wasn’t a complete lie,” Schlatt admitted, looking over at the shrine of Conner. “But then we were able to bring his spirit back- Yet another thing the press would not have approved of- especially because we didn’t 100% succeed, as Connar now haunts a pair of leather pants.”

“Wait- so that’s how you have all those strange artifacts in the store over there? And that doesn’t explain the whole control over the officers-” Phil started.

“Oh, all that’s Big Q. Money laundering and drugs and whatever else he gets up to. I just pay the bail. From the underground market to high court, we basically own this town,” Schlatt told him. “Are you content with your answers to who we are now?” 

Phil chuckled and shook his head, “I guess.” 

Tommy’s eyes light up, “Does that mean we can stay for longer?”

“Absolutely not, no. We’re on a time crunch kid,” Phil said, shaking his head. Phil couldn’t help but feel a little bad for Tommy when he saw the disappointment across his face, “But maybe we’ll stay a little longer in the morning,” He offered.

Tommy lit up again with a smile, “You guys are welcome to stay as long as you want in the morning, we’re not expecting anyone,” Charlie said, “But for now, we’ll go get the food and drinks,” He told them. 

And so, another night passed on their adventure across the continent. Phil became more and more comfortable as Schlatt shared stories from his times with Wilbur and the rest of his old crew, which made Tommy unbelievably happy. They all laughed and shared and Wilbur sang some more, long into the night.


	10. chapter nine

It was most certainly a nice change, waking up in a proper bed. Phil had almost forgotten how nice it was really; being able to wake up, walk out of his room, then grab some already prepared food and coffee without a second thought or fear. But however nice it might be, he knew they had to leave soon enough. 

Like most mornings, Techno was already up and sitting around the fire, a book in one hand and a cup of warm tea in the other. Reading the gilded words on the spine, Phil saw the book to be a compilation of tales written about the Old Company with whom they were staying with. Phil inwardly laughed about the sheer narcissism that book’s presence held. 

One thing that did surprise Phil that refreshing morning was the fact that Tommy and Tubbo were also already up and bouncing off the walls, eagerly buzzing around Schlatt and Big Q. They happily waved over to Phil as Tommy skittered over to him.

“Phil! Phil, Phil, Phil, Schlatt’s gonna show us around town before we leave and he’s gonna tell us stuff and-” Tommy rambled.

“That’s great Tommy, just be back before noon, you’ve got a few hours,” Phil told him with a wave. Maybe he would finally get some quiet time or time to look at some more maps to get a better idea of what the future might hold. 

Soon enough, Tommy and Tubbo were bouncing out the door after the old adventurers and Phil meandered back over to his oldest son, still engaged in a book by the fire. He prepared himself a warm cup of coffee and a plate, then sat in the armchair adjacent to Techno.

“It’s good to see everyone so well-rested, and I guess Will and Deo are still asleep?” Phil asked.

Techno shrugged, “I assume Wilbur is, I don’t know about Deo. I believe I hear him leaving pretty early this morning, maybe he had some of that business to finish up on.”

“How long have you been up, Techno?”

His son looked down at the pocket watch he kept with him, “Two hours,” he responded bluntly. 

Phil chuckled, “You just can’t sleep past eight, can you?”

“Ahh, that would be wasting precious time Phil, precious time.”

Phil rolled his eyes and smiled. He missed spending time with his kids like this; short but pleasant passing-by conversations. He always felt the weight of his responsibilities back home, and of course, while traveling they were always in a rush. It was very pleasant to simply be able to sit down and chat.

Not long after comfortable silence fell between Phil and Techno, the soft clanging of the bell that hung above the entrance to the tavern rang out. Through the door, Deo slipped in, followed by two unknown people.

At first, Phil was a little alarmed; Deo had disappeared early in the morning and returned with two new bodies, but soon the warm sound of laughter filled the little foyer as Deo led them towards Phil. 

“Phil’Za,” Deo greeted, quickly bowing his head without much thought and pulled a chair away from the large dining table towards him and Techno. 

“Who have you brought to us?” Phil asked, looking between the two people standing behind Deo. 

One of them, the shorter one, stood a little shorter than Deo with a long blue coat with nice golden detailing and a cream shirt. Over his eyes sat a pair of glasses that, like Deo’s, could not be seen through, but one lens was blue and the other red.

The other one stood the same height as Deo, if not a little bit taller. He had glasses almost identical to Deo and wore a frilly white shirt with a mid-calf length shirt and a long overcoat, similar to the other stranger’s, but red.

“This is Jack and Eret, my brothers,” Deo informed, motioning between the two. “I fear what the future might hold for our little party, sir, and I think my brothers might provide two more pairs of capable hands for the journey if you will let them join us.”

Phil raised his eyebrow, “Do you really have this much anxiety over the future, Deo?”

“I saw what happened to the foot soldier in the palace, sir. I think we will need all the help we can get.”

Phil pondered over Deo’s words and nodded, “I think you have a point, Deo,” Phil told him with a nod, turning his attention to his brothers. Phil pulled himself from the armchair and stuck his hand out to each, “I believe your brother has a point, if you guys would like to join us, you are more than welcome to do so.”

Jack and Eret shook Phil’s hand back. Jack looked up at his brother with a sly smile, “Wow, Deo being right? That's a first-” 

Deo smacked his brother over the head, “Bitch,” he mumbled.

Phil couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, we’ll be departing at noon, you boys might want to get your stuff gathered and meet us back here.”

Eret and Jack nodded and rushed away to pack up their stuff, leaving Deo with a faint but warm smile in front of Phil and Techno. He quickly turned his attention back to the two and sat down on the chair he had dragged over a moment before.

“I just want us all to come out of this alive, Phil. Well- you know what me and my brothers can put forth now,” Deo quietly explained. Techno’s confused look reminded Deo that he was still unaware, much like the majority of their party. He guessed they would all learn at some point.

“Ah.. yeah Techno, me and my brothers are all gorgons,” Deo informed.

Techno seemed to think about the information for a moment, before nodding, “I’ve got to admit, you managed to slip that one by me.”

Deo shrugged, “Well, I’ve been doing just that as long as your dad has been a lord.”

“You’ve aged well,” Techno commented with a small chuckle.

Deo laughed. Phil turned his attention to his son, “Off-topic, but Techno, have you eaten breakfast yet? You should probably eat.”

Techno thought for a moment and shrugged, “I dunno man, that seems boring,” Techno said sarcastically, pulling himself out of the chair and towards where the food was.

Deo watched him walk past, then turned back to Phil. “As I was saying sir, after years of traveling, I've had the displeasure of being a part of many tragedies. I don’t want this to be another.”

[song; This Will End by The Oh Hellos w/ edited lyrics]

“No, I am not afraid to die, It's every breath that comes before,” Deo began.  
“Heartache I've heard is part of life, and I have broken more and more.” he sighed, “But I can hope how this will end, with every line, a comedy. That we can learn to love without demand, but with unreserved honesty.”  
“If I am not afraid to die, If all to gain in life is suffering then what is all this waiting for? Cause I can see how this will end, in all its bitter tragedy. I'll give you all I have to spend and expect nothing back,” Phil responded.  
He continued “I will wait for this to end. The back and forth; the battery, for you at last to comprehend the kind of love of which I speak.”

“You’re an interesting man, Phil’Za,” Deo commented. 

“I guess you are too, Deo. We’ve both seen what the world could be versus where we are now, and we both have a better understanding of the gravity of the situation.”

“It's nice to be able to relate to someone like this, I usually just have my brothers and well, you know how brothers can be,” Deo said with a small chuckle, “Sure, we aren't spread out across continents after being tasked to rule and watch over the ethereal planes, but you know, we’ve been around each other for so long that at a point it all gets old.”

Phil nodded, “That’s how it got before we were all sent off. There was only so much to see and do and learn…” Phil agreed. They fell into an awkward silence before Deo budded in again.

“Do you have any guesses on what is happening? Who is doing this?” Deo asked.

Phil shook his head, “I wish I did. None of my ideas make enough sense, I’m starting to believe it’s someone new. Not some old foe, no no. They’ve been planning this for who knows how long. They’ve decimated city-state after city-state with no hesitation or missteps. This is nothing we’ve ever seen before.”

“I remember the first night we spoke, you showed me some maps of where they’ve already gone through, and of course we all saw the… messenger.”

“That’s why I’m in such a rush. I’ve seen how far they’ve come and it’s obvious where they’re planning on going. The capital of the continent we’ll be sailing to, over a million people call it home, it’s the most densely populated place this side of the plane and judging on how quickly the enemy is moving… we can’t let them beat us there, Deo.”

“What do you think a ragtag group of travelers can do against a threat that large, sir? Even if we make it on time and whatnot, who’s to say we won't get immediately obliterated?” Deo asked.

Phil sighed and sat himself back further into his chair, “I’m not sure Deo. I’m not sure. But whatever may happen, it’s in the hands of fate and prophecy, we can’t avoid it any longer.”

Deo nodded, “Come what may, I guess.”

Techno returned to the chairs not too long after their conversation, and they all spoke briefly about what they would be facing in the future. They were within a week’s journey away from the coast, and from there it was a five-day voyage across the ocean, then another five days to the capitol. Phil had a skew of mechanisms in his bags that foretold that it might rain in the next few nights, but after that, it would be smooth sailing all around.

Deo excused himself to make sure his brothers had in fact stayed on task and started packing, and to pack himself up, and Phil was soon to do the same, heading back up to his room to pack up, leaving Techno.

Though Techno wasn’t alone for too long, as Wilbur descended down the stairs. Techno gave him a small wave and Wilbur signaled back that he was going to get himself some food before coming back over to sit with him. 

Soon enough, they were sitting together in front of a dying fire. As noon grew closer, it was generally getting warmer so the warmth of the fire was less needed anyway. 

“Did you sleep well? You seemed to have slept for a while,” Techno asked, just trying to save himself from awkward silence.

Wilbur nodded, “Very well, it was very nice. This place is very familiar to me, like a home away from home I guess.”

“Where is your home, Wilbur?” Techno asked absentmindedly. “You’ve spoken a lot about your adventures, but never really what made you leave in the first place of where you first left from.”

Wilbur hesitated to answer, “That’s an interesting question, Techno. I’m not from anywhere near here, across the globe really. A far far away place with mountains so tall you wouldn’t think they ever end, that’s where I’m from.”

“It’s beautiful from what I remember; pale, tall, sheer cliffs above rolling oceans and fields alike, long waterfalls that hide nurseries from the harsh light of dawn. The homes were all carved out of the cliff walls and were for the most part all interconnected. A lot of different sirens lived there, all in little family units. There were never many golden ones like me, maybe I’ve met one other? But he… well he didn’t make it as far as I did,”

“Oh… I’m sorry…” Techno said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh no, it’s fine. I’ve just been lucky. My story from home was a lot better than many other sought out species. As far as I’m aware, we were never attacked or pillaged or had some kind of mass slaughter, some of us just went too far out. That’s the thing with the siren’s culture, they see themselves so high above everyone else, and if you don’t want to be like that, or if you want to see the world beyond the planes, they don’t want you. So when I left, I was excommunicated and cannot return under the threat of treason or something,” Wilbur explained.

“Oh… that's interesting,” Techno commented, “Do you ever regret leaving?”

“No,” Wilbur responded simply, “I was made for a much greater fate than sitting idly on a cliff.”

Techno nodded, taking some time to run over all the information he was just given.

“Well,” Wilbur started, “What about you?”

“Huh?” Techno responded dully.

“I mean I just told you my whole origin story, you should give me some crumbs at least,” Wilbur urged.

Techno shrugged, “Oh well, I’m not even from this plane originally. I was a human, too. Perfectly normal, not any kind of pigman thing,” Techno said, looking down at himself before continuing, “I was a prince in a fair port town called Hypixel, me and my brother, we just lived out our lives as normal kids do, happy and smiley and not cursed.”

“But my kingdom went to war a lot, we were in a very important area, so I was trained from a very young age by some of the best warriors in the mortal plane. At one point they called me the best, I had won many battles by the time I was around Tommy’s age now. I think he’s jealous of that sometimes, but he doesn’t understand either. No kid should have to go through that shit,” Techno said stoically.

“But then somehow you ended up calling a high king, dad?” Wilbur asked.

Techno nodded, “Somehow,” he said with a quiet chuckle, “You see, me and my brother perhaps were not the most perfect kids. We would get into crazy amounts of trouble because we knew we could either fight or persuade our way out of anything- well,” He paused, “Well until you find yourself at the mercy of a god.”

“We were out hunting in someplace we weren't supposed to and we saw this wild boar, nothing special, so we went after it. I shot it with an arrow and it kept running, we chased it into this clearing in the middle of a dense forest. There was a fairy circle on the ground but neither of us really believed in that kind of stuff. Ironic, I know.”

“Long story short, turns out the boar belonged to the goddess of arcane magics. She showed herself, I took the blame as it was my fault, and so she cursed me. We returned back to the palace but my parents thought me so horrendous and dishonorable that they ordered for me to be killed, that night my brother helped me sneak out and back into the forest and somehow… I ended up in the fae wilds where Red’Za found me, Phil ended up pulling something similar as he did with you, and I’ve lived and trained under him since.``

“Oh geez, that’s quite a bit to take in Techno,” Wilbur admitted.

Techno laughed, “It is what it is, I guess.”

“Well since you asked me the same, I’ll return the favor; do you wish you could go back?”

Techno’s mood seemed to dim when Wilbur asked the question as he slipped back into his normal, very stoic self, “Every day.”

“I miss my brother and I miss being normal,” Techno admitted. “I’m going to go home one day.”

They sat in awkward silence for a moment, Wilbur still put off by the sudden tone shift, but quickly found something to fill the void of sound.

“So what about Tommy?” Wilbur asked.

That seemed to lighten Techno’s attitude again, he chuckled a little thinking about his younger brother, “I hate that little rat,” Techno said, though it was obvious to Wilbur that it was a joke. 

“I feel bad for him some days. Then there are the others where I would like to hold his head underwater and watch him drown, but I mostly feel bad for him. I mean I would never tell him that, he would cuss me out or something, I don’t know, but I try to look after him. He just makes it hard,”

Wilbur laughed, “I can tell.”

“He’s technically blood-related to Phil, though more closely to Red’Za. He’s his great great great so-on grandson. I don’t know all of the details there,” Techno said. 

“So he’s not fully human?” Wilbur asked.

“Ehhh, technically, no. He has some distant fae blood, which is why he’s able to exist in this plane. But it’s so distant that that’s the only effect it has on him, he’s able to be around fae creatures and items.”

“Ahh, that makes some sense. Though I didn’t know about the fae and mortal thing, so fae can go into the mortal plane, but mortals can’t enter the fae planes?” Wilbur asked curiously.

Techno nodded, “That’s how they’ve kept this place sacred for so long, the only evils that can come are from inside the plane itself, which makes things a lot easier,” Techno told him, “But I mean… fae don’t always stay in this plane and well… that’s how a lot of kings and lords have mortal servants and whatnot. Yeah, I’m pretty sure Tommy isn’t the only child that came from mortal affairs.”

“Oooooh…” Wilbur remarked.

“Yeahhh…” Techno paused, “That was the whole thing there, something to do with Red’Za and some foreign queen and a messy bloodline and yeah… somehow that all ended poor, sad, and with Tommy, so for payback or whatever Red just… took him back with him, but he, just like us, was kept in that place. But he was there for like, nine years or something, till he was like ten, then Phil took him.”

“Wow, both of you have way more interesting backstories than me,” Wilbur laughed.

“Ehh, I don’t know. Maybe me, but Tommy’s just kinda thrown around. But I mean you’ve traveled and seen things and met people, your stories are interesting,” Techno told him.

“Well, I try to be entertaining. That was my job for many years, traveling with this group,” Wilbur motioned all around them, “Or some others.”

“What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen?” Techno gave up on fighting back his curiosity.

But alas, Wilbur never got the chance to answer. Just as the siren opened his mouth to give a response, there was a small tolling of the bell that hung above the door, and Tommy and Tubbo came bounding back through the door, covered in dirt and mud and bounding up and down as Schlatt and Big Q followed after them.

“Ah, welcome back guys!” Wilbur said happily, waving to the group.

Tubbo and Tommy ran over to them, quickly overwhelming Techno as they both spoke towards them at a million miles a minute.

“Hey, hey, hey, that’s very cool but why don’t you just tell all of us when we head out in an hour,” Wilbur instated, giving them a warm smile of persuasion.

They paused for a moment, then nodded, “Seems fair enough,” They nodded, “Yeah, I want to tell Phil as well- and Deo too. Where is Deo?” Tommy asked, bouncing around.

“I think he went to get his brothers-” Techno mumbled.

“Brothers? Whaaat? He has brothers?” Tommy asked excitedly. “Do they all wear glasses and funny hats as well? Have you seen them?”

Techno paused for a moment, thinking back to when they all had approached him and Phil, “Actually- yes. They all have glasses, I don’t know about hats.”

“Odd,” Tommy said curtly, shrugging and turning back to Tubbo, “We should pack,” He insisted.

“You two aren’t packed?” Techno asked, annoyance ebbing at the edge of his voice.

Tommy and Tubbo looked between each other and their feet and Tubbo started, “Well… you see we were going to pack this morning but then we got invited to see around, and you know that’s a lot funner-” 

“More fun,” Techno corrected

“Uh, more fun, a lot more fun to go see the town. But we’ll be really quick! I swear!” He insisted.

“Well you two better get started,” Wilbur insisted, shooing them away and up to their rooms.

After the chorus of hasty footsteps had disappeared up the stairs, Schlatt patted Big Q on the back and disappeared back through the little door under the stairs, leaving his friend behind with Techno.

Techno watched him curiously. He seemed like he wanted to ask something but he also seemed a little nervous, which surprised Techno. Big Q seemed like a very outgoing guy-thing. Techno wasn’t quite sure what he was.

“Uhh… hello?” Techno said with a little wave towards him.

“Ah yeah, hello,” The man said, definitely a little nervous.

“Do you… want something?” Techno asked wearily. 

“Ahh no, no… well, yes. But I don’t know if you are the right person to ask annnd-” He started but Techno cut him off.

“Well go ahead, ask.”

“Oh, alright; Well you see I’ve been hearing all about your traveling, and you see- well it’s been a hot minute since I did any kind of adventuring- I mean I have before, I traveled with you know, Schlatt and the gang-” He stopped himself, “I’m rambled,” He muttered to himself, “Long story short, I was wondering if I could latch on to your gang- like if it’s not too much of a problem.”

“Well, do you have your own gear and a horse?” Techno asked.

“Oh yeah, it’s all around here somewhere and I have a horse stabled just outside of town,” Big Q told him.

Techno pulled out his little pocket watch, scanning over the time, and then shrugging, “well, if you’ve adventured out before, I don’t see why not. You’ve got an hour.”

“Oh my god, that was easier than I was expecting,” Big Q whispered to himself, exhaling. “Thank you so much!” He called out, waving back at him as he ran back to the room under the stairs. 

And then, Techno was once again alone, but instead of sticking around, he packed up the plates and cups around him, grabbed his books, and headed back up to his room to make sure he had everything packed up and to maybe get a lick of sleep before leaving. This little family outing was quickly becoming something much greater and more important.


	11. chapter ten

They were quickly back to the trails. Techno led the group further and further into the plains, Phil spent time talking with the new additions to the group, talking with Deo, Eret, and Jack, and then would switch over to Big Q whenever Tommy and Tubbo had wandered away from him. Wilbur did much the same as Phil, just having a fun time wandering through the group and almost getting Jack thrown off his horse after “appearing out of nowhere” according to Jack.

The plains turned into tall forests with large stone outcroppings and boulders as they meticulously climbed up hills and leaped over little streams. Whenever they came to a relatively flat area Techno would push his horse into a gallop, with the rest of the party close behind him. Most time after this, Phil would become the head of the party as Tommy would run in front of Techno, which would spur the two into a race until one was clotheslined by a tree or something of the sort.

The first day of travel passed with ease, as did the second and third. Spirits stayed high as days turned to nights and back to days, Jack and Eret pushed their brother into more conversations, which led to many stories being passed around as Big Q and Wilbur found company in one another with their instruments and songs. 

On the fourth day of travel, Phil requested they stop early in an effort to give their horses and the group a well-deserved break. The majority of the group was quick to agree and dismount their steeds, though Techno and Eret questioned his motives. They were only a day or so’s travel from the next town, which was a large port city from which they would be departing from, but Phil eased them to agree with the promise of some “team-building exercises”, whatever that might entail. 

Well, as everyone returned to their makeshift campsite after finding a place to tie up their steeds for the night, Phil told everyone what the team-building exercise was.

The answer was capture the flag.

This was met with a generally very excited whooping and hollering. Phil explained the playing ground to everyone and the rules of where they could hide their flag and where the jails were, making sure to make it as fair as he could make it with the random terrain. 

Tommy wiggled through the group and crept up beside his dad.

“Hey, hey Phil? Phil, can I be team captain?” Tommy asked, trying his best puppy eyes out.

Phil chuckled, “I mean if you insist, but if you’re team captain I want Techno to be the other.”

Tommy’s head snapped around to his brother, a new ferocity and fire burning behind his eyes as he nodded at his brother to agree.

“Who am I to back down from a… I would say challenge but I feel like that’s giving you too much,” Techno responded, shrugging off his heavy red cloak and walking it over to his pile of stuff.

“HEY!” Tommy called back dramatically, “Oh, it’s on,” Tommy turned back around to his father, “Alright Phil, you heard the man-pig bitch! Gimme the flag!”

“Don’t you want to pick your team first?” Phil posed.

“Oooh good point,” Tommy nodded, looking back around at the group surrounding him, “Well it’s not even a question, Tubbo first.”

Tubbo smiled and skipped up to his partner, the two watching as Techno took his place on the other side of Phil, looking through the group.

“Eh, I guess Wil for my team,” Techno said, waving his friend over. “I guess you’re not playing?” Techno asked Phil.

Phil shook his head, “Someone’s gotta be the mediator when one of you eminently knocks the other out.”

Tommy rolled his eyes and looked through the group, “Deo!” he called, beckoning him over to him and Tubbo.

Techno looked the slightest bit disappointed but quickly shrugged it off, “Ehh, Eret I guess.”

Tommy watched as Eret jogged over to his group, standing with a smirk next to Wilbur and Techno. Tommy narrowed his eyes at his brother and looked between Jack and Big Q, “Jack. Sorry Big Q.”

“Understandable, I love beating up children,” Big Q said with a chuckle, skipping over to his group.

Tommy shook his head, “Yeah, well I love beating up weird-ass looking robot bitches!” He called back.

“It’s a condition!” Big Q cried back. 

Phil rolled his eyes, “Alright, well please don’t kill each other,” He said, reaching into his satchel and pulling out two pieces of bright red fabric, “You’re going to have to get creative with these now, be smart you two,” he said, placing them into both of his sons’ hands. “Now go on! Be listening out for me to yell start.”

Tommy nodded, clenching the fabric tight in his hands as he turned to his group with bright eyes. “Alright gang, let’s get this show on the road!” He called, running into their side of the woods, his team close behind. 

They hurdled over a few streams and Tommy crawled up onto a boulder, looking out over their territory. The divider was a stream at the bottom of a low hill. A clearing about two horse lengths surrounded the brook on either side all the way up and down, and the rest was tall forest littered with boulders as tall as Tommy with little to no undergrowth and some tributaries. 

Tommy saw Techno and his team disappear into the woods on their side and jumped down onto the ground once more, “Alright gang, I think if we could find some kind of water mouse-vole hole thing that we could stuff the flag into that would be nice, or a sneak hole.”

“Alright, how about me and Jack take the flag and look for a good spot while you and Deo look for sticks so we can attack,” Tubbo suggested.

“Attack?” Jack questioned, “Phil didn’t say anything about attacking the others.”

“Well to be fair, he didn’t say anything about not attacking the others,” Tubbo said innocently.

“Plus, knowing Techno, he’ll probably be doing the same thing. Smart thinking, Tubbo. I agree,” Tommy said with a proud smile, handing his friend the flag. 

“Alright,” Deo cut in, “Let’s meet back here in ten minutes or so. If you two get done earlier feel free to just hang around, yeah?”

Tubbo and Jack looked between each other, evil smirks growing wide across their faces as they nodded and turned to go, giving Tommy and Deo small salutes before running off. Tommy distantly heard Tubbo say something along the lines of, “We’re going to commit so many minor war crimes, it’ll be great,” and an agreeing hum from Jack.

Then, Deo and Tommy turned to each other, “Alright, so what if you sneak back into camp and grab our shields? I don’t think we’ll be able to find much good for that around here, but they’ll be useful,” Deo suggested.

Tommy thought for a moment and nodded, “I like the way you’re thinking pal, should I grab my bow as well? We can fashion some kind of makeshift arrows or something-” Tommy started, but Deo shook his head.

“We just need to be able to defend ourselves fairly, I think if we go overboard that might make them try and one-up us and I don’t think that will end well for us,” Deo told him.

“Fair point. See? This is why I kept you around! You’re all smart and shit, you’re like my right-hand man, yeahhh,” Tommy said, patting his friend on the shoulder.

Deo chuckled, “If you insist. Alright, let’s get to it.” Deo saluted to Tommy as Jack and Tubbo had before turning around and jogging off into the dense part of the woods to find some sticks.

Pride bubbled through Tommy’s chest as he turned back towards their camp, swiftly jumping around rocks and stealthily creeping over leaves. He never knew how Techno had learned to creep over leaves without making a sound, especially with him having hooves and all. Tommy had begged for him to teach Tommy a thousand times over, but to no avail, so he had just tried to teach himself, but he never really had the patience.

Tommy quickly snuck around the camp, cautiously watching Phil as he worked on setting up his tent, rather oblivious to anything around him as his pocketwatch sat ticking quietly beside him, counting down until he had to go out and call the game into an official start.

Tommy made sure to keep a steady eye on his father as he snuck around to where Deo and his brother’s stuff was sat, quickly picking up three smaller, circular shields and one larger rectangular one that he vaguely remembered on Eret’s back. 

Tommy carefully set them aside and crept over to his and Tubbo’s stuff, searching through it for his canteen and some light snacks they could be shared around, as well as a small red hand cloth he had lying around in his bag, it wasn’t exactly like the one Phil had given them, but that was okay.

Tommy grabbed all of his stuff and moved it back over to the shields. He placed all of the items he had picked up into the large shield he was taking from Eret, looked over towards his father, he was looking down at his watch, probably about to start back to the center of the field to call the start. 

Tommy quickly ran off into the forest as fast as he could so his father didn’t see him, running for a few minutes until he found himself at the boulder where Tubbo and Jack were already waiting. 

Tommy placed down all the things he had taken from camp onto the ground in front of them and showed them everything. He picked up the false flag and ran it through his hands as he spoke, “I think we should take this and write like, loser, or something on it and hide it somewhere so they think they’ve won, then we can sneak in and actually win,” Tommy told them. 

“Oh, that sounds like a good idea. We can look around and see if there are any berries to write on it with or something,” Jack suggested. 

Tommy smiled, “Great! Also, I think the game is about to start, so we have to be quick,” Tommy told them.

Tubbo leaned down and ran his hands over the shields, “Who are you going to give the big shield?” He asked.

Tommy shrugged, “When Deo gets back, we’ll discuss roles.”

The two nodded, but after a moment Jack flipped over one of the shields, “Wait- aren’t these my brothers?” He asked.

“Weeeellll, yes,” Tommy admitted, “I guess since you know, we have two out of three, I could just grab yours! Plus Phil was in camp so I wanted to grab the ones farthest away,” Tommy told him.

Jack shrugged, “Alright fair enough. Can I take my shield?”

“Oh yeah, of course,” Tommy nodded.

The sound of footsteps drew closer from around them as Deo climbed up a hill and into view, nodding his head towards them as his hands were filled with large sticks.

“Oh, hey Deo!” Tommy called out, running over to his teammate to take some of the sticks out of his hands and walking them over to where he had just dropped the shields.

Deo dropped his as well and looked down, “Wait are those our shields?-” 

“Yes, long story, they’ll be fine,” Tommy said, shrugging him off, he was about to continue but a distant sound cut him off. 

Phil’s call for the official start of the game echoes through the forest. Tommy looked through his team with a nod, “Alright, we’ve gotta do this quick. We’ve got shields and swords. Tubbo, if you’re alright with it, you can take the big shield and mainly stay on our site, and you’ll be the man going in if anyone gets captured. Jack, you can mirror me and we’ll be the main runners, and Deo, you’ll be the muscle and messenger, you can run between me, Jack, and Tubbo, and then just be around me or Jack if we need you, alright?”  
Tubbo and Jack nodded and Deo shrugged in assurance. Tommy smiled and gave them a thumbs-up as he turned his back to the group and ran towards the front lines.

Tommy glanced over his shoulder and called for Deo to follow after him for a bit as Tommy started picking up his pace towards the boundary. Deo quickly caught up with him and the Deo launched through the forest floor, coming to a fast halt as the enemy sprung up over the horizon. 

On the over side of the river divide, Big Q and Eret stood shoulder to shoulder, watching Deo and Tommy closely. Looking them up and down, they too, had heavy sticks to use as swords, but no shields. 

Tommy looked at his battle partner, “Play it safe or chicken?” 

Deo thought for a moment, “It’ll be easy to scare off Big Q I think, Eret will be more difficult. Let’s play chicken, have some fun.”

Tommy nodded and ran forward, looking down the creek towards where he figured Jack was, then back towards Deo, “Just hover back while we see what they do and give me a yell if they move,” Tommy called back to him as he continued further down the bank. 

Tommy darted down the soft sandbank towards Jack, continuously casting glances behind him to make sure neither of their enemies was emerging from the hill. 

“No Wil yet, but we’ll chicken run,” Tommy whisper-yelled at his teammate, motioning into the territory as he and Jack lunged across the watercourse and up the opposite hill.

As they reached the top of the hill, it was apparent that they had caught on with what they were doing, Eret had run around the hill and now Wil was in front of them too, and in the distance behind them, Tommy heard Deo call out that Big Q had bolted towards their side. 

Tommy kept running, hoping for the best for his partner as he didn’t spare a second to look back. They still had no idea where Techno was, but Tommy thought it wise that he only found out from a distance.

Looking around their territory as he sprinted away from Eret who was hot on his tail, Tommy noticed two probable places that they could have hit it; A ditch that Tommy could distantly see at the very back of their territory, or in between two boulders which were surrounded by a tributary.

Tommy kept his pace fast as he made a sharp V turn back towards the boundary, narrowly avoiding Eret’s grasping hand as he spun around. Tommy sprinted as fast as he could, hoping that Deo was still around where he had left him a minute earlier. Tommy messily ran down the incline that led down to the boundary and launched himself across, crashing into the other side and swiftly turning around to look at his enemy. 

Above him, he suddenly heard a rush of footsteps, and Tommy swore he saw fright behind Eret’s glasses as a familiar scream sounded out above Tommy. He looked up just in time to see Big Q about to jump over Tommy and probably into the river.

Out of a moment of thoughtless instinct, Tommy reached up and grabbed Big Q’s ankle and pulled him down, making him fall flat onto his flat, masked face right into the sand on their side of the boundary.

Tommy jumped up in surprise and let out a little yelp, as did Big Q. Above him, Deo came to a swift halt, almost falling onto the two below him.

“Nice catch, Tommy!” Deo chuckled.

Tommy looked at Big Q who was swaying as he stood up and shook himself off, “You alright Big Q?” He asked.

Big Q let out a hearty laugh, “Oh yeah dude, I’m alright,” He reassured, “Ugh, fair enough, fair enough, I’ll give it to you two this time, I’m off,” Big Q said, putting his hands up as he climbed up the embankment he had just been pulled off of towards their jail.

Eret let out a small chuckle as he shook his head and climbed the embankment on their side. Down the river some, Jack had just successfully gotten himself safe and away from Wilbur, sticking his tongue out at his enemy.

Tommy skittered up the embankment and huddled around with Deo and Jack, laughing and going over the information they had gotten. They came up with a further plan and Tommy told Deo to run and tell Tubbo their plans.

The game continued forth for about half an hour, it was all a long game of chicken for them though now. Each team knew basically the exact whereabouts of the other side’s flag through suicide runs and well-strategized jailbreaks, now it was all just a matter of actually getting the flags, and Tommy had come up with an idea. 

The plan was simple, or so Tommy told his team. Jack would stand guard across the lines while Tommy ran in and Deo watched his back and fended off anyone coming to get him while Tubbo circled back behind everyone ready to get the flag from Tommy if he was about to get caught. Overall, not a horrible plan.

But, looking at the team standing before them, waiting and watching for their every move, Tommy was suddenly much more nervous, but now wasn’t the time for that. Tommy looked between Tubbo and Jack, giving them small nods before turning to Deo and giving him a fist bump of power.

“Ready?” Deo asked, watching as a perfect window opened up between the wall of enemies.  
Tommy nodded and patted his friend on the shoulder before tightening the grip on his shield and sucking in all the air he could and bracing himself.

Then he ran.

Tommy ran with all the strength he could muster, the sound of footsteps being drowned out by the rushing of wind by his face as he nimbly launched himself through the enemy territory. 

Tommy was only vaguely aware of everything else but the flag he was going for, Tommy ran towards the two big boulders he had noted at the beginning of the game and knew that he was in fact correct in believing it was between the two rocks.

Tommy was pretty sure he recognized Tubbo running along beside him, the two separated by Wilbur and Big Q who were going for Tubbo and Tommy respectively. Tommy inwardly nodded to himself as Tubbo veered off with Wilbur, leaving Tommy with Big Q.

He heard distant yells, but Tommy didn’t spare much time thinking about it, he was too focused on himself and his task at the moment. Tommy approached the two boulders and with as much accuracy as he could, slid between the two, sliding right beside the flag. 

Tommy couldn't help but let out a victorious yell. He was far from winning, but this was the farthest they had gotten. Tommy knew he couldn't waste any time now. Looking between the way he had just come from and the light in front of him, he saw Big Q had actually circled around in anticipation of Tommy just running in and out.

In retaliation, Tommy did the smart thing and turned around, crawl-crouching as quickly as he could without knocking himself out, then veering off.

Tommy was sure the coast was clear, it was a straight shot, they had won. Tommy looked behind him, by the looks of it Big Q was just now brushing himself off from and looking around to where Tommy had run off too, but in not looking where he was going, Tommy, in turn, ran straight into a tree, or that's what he figured he had run into.

Tommy’s head snapped back in front of him as he looked up at the three he had just run into- except when he looked up, it was in fact not a tree.

It was Techno.

Curse him and his strangely quiet walking.

“Nice try, Tommy,” The monotonous pigman commented, looking down at his brother with the smallest sign of a smug smirk.

“Motherfucker,” Tommy whispered, bouncing back up and holding his shield in front of him and puffing his chest out, “You can’t stop me now! Look how close I am-”

“Technically, you just ran into me, which is basically just a full-body tag, so really I should tell you to run back to our jail, but I’m tired, just like you Toms,” Techno rambled, dramatically circling his brother with a large weapon-like stick.

“How about-” Techno started but was swiftly cut off.

“How about you shut up!” A new voice called out over their shoulders. Tommy looked around his brother to see Deo, holding out his weapon. Techno turned around to see him, turning his attention away from Tommy as he took a menacing step towards Deo. 

“Deo!” Tommy called out proudly.

“Tommy, run!” Deo barked, going to strike Techno with his ‘sword’.

Tommy didn’t need another word, he ran out from Techno’s reach and ran as fast as he could.

Behind him, Techno went running after him, but Deo was set on fighting him now. Techno pulled out his ‘sword’ and went to knock Deo down with ease, and was almost genuinely surprised when he was met back with an equal parry. Now Techno was intrigued. 

The two continued back and forth, parrying attacks and swinging under blows, going from light, more games-like hits to putting actual strength behind their blows as they continued fighting each other. 

And they went on until there was a sudden burst of cries from the game that they had previously been a part of. The two froze, both looking over to where the sudden sound was coming from.

Except it was screams, but instead cheers. Behind them, Eret was proudly waving Tommy’s team flag as an exhausted Jack lay prone behind him, watching his sourly and Tommy with Techno’s team’s flag still on the enemy side. Eret had won the game while the rest were distracted.

Techno and Deo looked between each other and the rest. Deo dropped his sword down onto the group, whipped his forehead of a bead of sweat, and started to walk to his wailing teammates. Techno watched him take a few steps, “Wait-” 

Deo’s head snapped back towards him, “Oh yeah, good fight.”

“Yeah. Wait. How did you learn to fight like that?” Techno asked.

Deo shrugged, “Just over time, I don’t know man,” He said casually, turning back around.

“We should spar sometime- but like- you know, with actual weapons,” Techno called after him.

Deo paused for a moment and shrugged, “Yeah, sounds good to me. Why not in the morning, you seem to get up pretty early.”

“Uhh yeah, sounds good to me,” Techno called after him.

“Good deal,” Deo said, giving him a thumbs up and jogging over to Tommy, Tubbo, and Jack, quickly joining in with their complaining and laughing. 

Techno found himself wandering back over to where his team was celebrating, congratulating his teammates and patting Eret firmly on the back. The two teams soon came back together and laughed and reminisced, Tommy dramatically reenacting the last moments of the game, offhandedly commenting on Techno and Deo’s duel.

And the night went on, Wil convinced Phil to force the losing team to go out and hunt for the winners and they finished setting up the camp and getting the fire started. Eventually, the losing team did manage to hunt something down, though perhaps they should have known better than let that group go out on their own.

Nonetheless, the night finished up how they usually went, casual chatting and horseplay as one by one, everyone retired to their tents or hammocks. Techno cast his gaze up to the sky at some point, pointing out to himself that the next night was to be a full moon, the point when the fae magic was at its height and when the fae wilds sometimes blended over to the mortal plane. 

Techno didn’t give it too much thought, they would be in the large port city this time tomorrow, and would be on a boat by the next morning. What could go wrong?


	12. chapter eleven

Techno, as he did most mornings, woke up just before the sun started seeping over the horizon. Techno had found himself caught in the equilibrium between being a morning person and a night person, he guessed it was just because sleep never came easy for him and it didn’t last too long, so at some point, he just gave in and accepted his fate. 

The only part about the mornings that Techno disliked was the fact that he always woke up freezing. He had no idea why, but he always woke up with the king of cold that feels like it’s been sitting in your bones, so Techno was usually pretty quick to get his start for the day.

And thus, today was no exception. Techno woke up cold, bitter, and tired. He fumbled around in the pitch black, mindlessly dressing himself to the best of his abilities while still in his tent where he couldn’t stand up straight. Techno threw his cape over his shoulder and grabbed his rapier and longsword, then walked out into the mindless dark.

Techno was used to this by now though. His eyesight was slightly better than now than it was as a human, though not as good as a fae like Phil or Tubbo, but he could see enough to make it over to the lanterns they had sitting around the camp for his and the other morning dwellers benefit. 

Speaking of fellow morning dwellers, Techno heard the distant rustling of Deo, who even now that his brothers had joined them and insisted on sleeping in a tent, still set up his trusty hammock and slept the night away there. Techno couldn’t blame him though, he wouldn’t necessarily want to share a tent with his brother either. 

Techno ignited the kindling inside the lanterns around the site and watched and Deo wandered over towards him and the lights like a moth. Techno gave him a nod of acknowledgment and turned back to continue lighting up the lanterns.

Deo stretched his back out and cracked his knuckles, then went around and lit the last two lanterns around the camp.

“We wanna take five or six?” Deo asked, looking out into the darkness. “I can see well enough, but they might just be nice,” He told Techno.

“I can see alright but the lanterns would definitely help,” Techno said, picking three up in his arms. “Are we going to use shields or just swords?”

“Oh it’s too early for me to use shields,” Deo chuckled, “Plus I’ve got to be honest, I don’t know where Tommy put my shields after yesterday.”

“Oh yeah, you might never get that thing back,” Techno laughed. “He’ll probably lose it or try to convince you it’s his.”

“I mean it literally has my face on it,” Deo commented.

“Wait I thought it had a gor-” Techno paused, “Oh yeah,” he whispered. “Wait, so you can actually do that- or like look like that? With the eyes and snakes and everything?” Techno asked curiously.

“Oh yeah, yeah. All snakey and whatnot,” Deo nodded. “I mean I haven't ‘reverted’ back to that I guess you could say in years now, but yeah.”

Techno nodded, “I see. Well, are you ready? I think I remember the way to some pretty flat ground and whatnot.”

Deo nodded and grabbed two more lanterns and quickly ran over all the things he had on him, noting his sword, glasses, lanterns, and hat before shrugging and taking his hat off and throwing it back into the dark where his hammock was. “‘S probably gonna get in my way,” He explained.

Techno nodded then turned to walk out into the woods. They walked in almost perfect silence for a few minutes and Techno looked through the forest, trying his best to navigate to the spot he noted the day prior until he did in fact find the location.

The two set out the five lanterns they had brought with them out in a large circle that lit up the ground well. The two walked towards each other in the center of the circle and shook hands, unsheathed their weapons, and began without another word. 

Techno noted that Deo had also opted for his longsword, which was good on both their parts. They were lighter than other swords that they carried and were good for replicating the type of fighting they had been doing the day prior.

They also both had their light armor on, long thick sleeves with leather arm pads, thick leather gloves that went well past their wrists, and chestplates, preferable for when sparring with actual swords when both parties knew that they were not in imminent danger. 

The two circled around each other, sizing one another up as they prepared. Techno went for the first jab, but Deo deflected. And thus it began. 

Each quickly got the hang of the other’s tactics and timing which helped greatly in one not actually injuring one another. The first few rounds finished quickly, with Techno winning the majority, but in time Deo had adapted and their duels went on for many minutes, parrying and sweeping each other’s blades.

By the time they had finally stopped, the sun was fully over the cluttered horizon line and they were both worn out. Both were thoroughly impressed with each other’s abilities and tactics and continued to converse about them as they gathered up the lanterns and meandered back to the camp where most of the group was already up. 

The rest of the morning went how most mornings went, a little bit of chatting and light snacking, Tommy started nagging Deo about where he was as Deo explained his many rounds of dueling he had just participated in to Tommy, who seemed genuinely impressed and insisted on watching next time, and have Deo teach him and Tubbo how to fight like them because Techno always said no. 

Techno talked with Phil as he gathered his tent up and packed up, then went off with a group to gather up and saddle their horses. 

Soon enough, they were all once again saddled on their steeds and treading quickly through the forest. Phil pushed them forwards, keeping their pace fast as they knew the port city they were heading for was only on the distant horizon. 

And four hours later, the winds coming off of the coast started to smell like salt. Vast forests and planes turned into farmland and little hutches and not too much longer after that, the grand port city of Miniopalx. 

It was bright and colorful and full of life. Walls and buildings and walls and then tall, tall spires that rose up into the sky which was the main palace. Something about the silhouette of the grand city sent a shiver up Techno’s spine. 

The rest of the group moved forward and passed Techno, exited chattering as they pushed their horses, leaving Techno gazing at the horizon. Phil however, took notice of Techno’s sudden stop and circled back to him.

“You alright, mate?” Phil asked.

Techno thought for a moment, narrowing his eyes over the horizon then turning back to his father, “That- that city. I know that city,” Techno stuttered.

Phil paused and looked over the horizon and cocked his head before seeming to connect dots in his mind, “I think I know why,” Phil told him.

Techno looked over at his father with a questioning gaze, “It looks like my home,” Techno said distantly.

“It looks like- yeah. The biggest cities in the Fae and Mortal planes are actually mirrors on both sides. The city of Minioplax and Hypixle are mirror cities, and Hypixle was your old kingdom, right?” Phil explained.

Techno nodded, staring longingly across the horizon. “So…” Techno started but couldn’t quite figure out what he wanted to say.

There was so much he wanted to say, but he couldn’t find the words. Looking over the horizon of the fae city, Techno could have sworn he had stood in the very stop he stood with his blood father and brother, talking about the future of their people and the looming threat of war.

It was beautiful. Techno had almost forgotten. 

“-echno? Techno? You alright there?” Techno shook his head as Phil’s words broke through his thoughts.

Techno shook his head, “Yeah. I’ll be alright,” He muttered, biting his lip as he looked down, pushing his horse down the slope and towards the city. 

Phil followed quietly after his son who blindly followed after the rest of the group. Phil watched as Techno would occasionally gaze up at the skyline then look back down and go to catch up with the group.

Tommy looked over his shoulder at his father and brother and mumbled something to his friend before pulling back to walk beside them.

“You alright, Big Man?” Tommy asked his brother.

Techno looked up at him and scowled, “Yes.”

Tommy blinked at his brother, “Uh, are you sure-”

“Yes. I’m sure, Tommy,” Techno snapped.

“Hey! Be nice to your brother,” Phil condemned.

Techno looked back at him, then looked back down at the ground, continuing to ignore his brother as he pushed forward. Tommy just rolled his eyes and trotted back up to be beside his friend. 

They approached the first wall on the kingdom. The sound of the ocean was just barely able to be heard as the buzzing of the city. A little down the coast there was a mass of ships and docks. But Techno wasn’t thinking about the scenery anymore.No, he was racking his brain. Racking his brain for all the books he had read about the fae and mortal plane and when and how they crossed over. 

Then, a point stuck out in his mind. The previous night he had noted that the next night, tonight, would be a full moon, which is the only time that one can freely move between planes if you know how and are of fae blood. The only road bump for him was that he only had as long as the moon was fully in the sky, and he had to sneak off for long enough to locate a portal.

And well, that was his plan for the day. Time passed in a numb haze, Techno aimlessly wandered around the streets, probably getting mistaken for someone who was on the high of their life as he blankly stared down eerily familiar alleyways and walls.

It wasn’t all the same of course, a lot of time had passed since Techno had last been in his home kingdom plus the city he was currently staying in was fae, therefore having many magical and enchanting elements that could only exist in a storyteller’s mind back home.

Techno found himself by the docks when the sun started dripping below the horizon and the moon started her ascent into the sky. Sudden dread rushed over Techno as he realized what he was trying to do. 

His home had probably changed a lot since he left, and what would he do once he got there? Presumably, his parents and brother assumed him dead and had probably long since moved on, who’s to say they would want him back? And if they did want him back, he couldn't abandon his mission or family. He had a life in the fae wilds and a family that truly cared about him. 

But this is what Techno had dreamed about doing, right? He had dreamed about going home for so long, but he had never actually imagined the opportunity would present itself. And it could be his only opportunity depending on how their mission went- no. Techno knew he shouldn’t think about it like that.

Techno looked into the satchel he had been carrying around, taking out a neat but well-handled leather-bound notebook as well as some lapis, a vile of moon water, and some kind of generic transparent crystal. He had gone through some arbitrary vendors while making his way through town and picked up everything he might need, now all he needed was the circle.

Techno unwrapped the twine looped around the book and flipped through the pages, it was a journal he had been given when he first met Phil which was enchanted to have infinite pages but always appear like a regularly numbered book, it still boggled Techno when he thought about it too much.

He flipped through the pages, notes from lectures, and random thoughts with a few corresponding sketches here and there until he stumbled across the page. It showed how to convert a regular fairy circle into a portal and the correct way to travel through and back. Techno marked the page and slipped all of his materials into his bag. Out in front of him, the ocean sparkled in the last few moments of sun.

Techno let out a deep sigh.

“Hey Techno!” Goddamnit. 

“What do you want, Tommy?” Techno hissed, “Didn’t I tell you to scram earlier?”

He heard his brother shuffle around behind him, “Well, yes. But that’s stupid because I’m an incredibly large man who can do whatever I want,” Tommy responded quickly. “Plus, Tubbo’s taking a nap or some shit and I don’t really know where anyone else is.”

“Yet somehow you found me first? Mhm, I see. Definitely.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do when I see my poor, poor, and beloved brother brooding on a dock?” Tommy stated.

“What that sarcasm?” Techno asked dryly.

“Of course it was sarcasm, dipshit,” Tommy snapped back. “But your acting all funky and shit and so I thought I would come and see what’s up.”

“Is that the only reason?” Techno asked skeptically

“Okay fine, I also heard Phil say something about you and humans, and well you know, I’m one of those.”

“Luckily.”

“Wha- Hey! You won’t be saying that when I’m all fuckin dead and shit!”

“No no, that’s exactly why I said that,” Techno remarked. He knew Tommy was about to start yelling at him so he just continued, “Anyways, haven’t you heard that curiosity killed the cat, Tommy?”

“Oh, whoah whoah whoah, my friend, but satisfaction brought it back!” Tommy stated.

And at that, Techno actually turned to face his brother. He raised his eyebrow and looked down at him, “Oh my god, you’re actually able to retain some kind of information,” Techno commented with a chuckle.

“What the fuck!” Tommy laughed, “Rude!”

Techno shrugged, “Well you know what, just because I acknowledge the fact that you just said something vaguely intelligent, I’ll tell you what’s up,” Techno told him, he couldn’t stop himself as he inwardly smiled at the glee in his brother’s eyes as he said that. “This city- Minioplax, actually has a mirror city of the mortal world, known as Hypixle-”

“Isn’t that your old city?” Tommy ebbed in curiously

Techno nodded, “Yep. And tonight’s a full moon, so my plan is to find a fae circle and portal through to Hypixel.”

“Oh! I wanna come!” Tommy said eagerly.

“Mmmh, I don’t know about that one-”

“Oh come on, you’ve already said it to me! C’monnnn It’ll be great!” Tommy insisted.

“Ehhhh, I don’t have a choice, do I?” Techno mumbled.

“Absolutely not!”

Techno rubbed his eyes and sighed, “Fine, but let’s hurry, we only have as long as the moon is fully in the sky unless Phil breaks us out and he doesn’t know we’re going,” He told Tommy.

Tommy instantly started bouncing around his brother, brimming with excitement, going on about how he wouldn’t try and cause too much chaos as Techno wandered around searching for any kind of fairy circle.

The moon was fully over the horizon line by the time Techno and Tommy were deep enough into the woods to find one. The light of the full moon was bright enough so even Tommy could see practically everything that wasn’t overshadowed by trees or underbrush.

Techno laid out the lapis lazuli and quartz crystals he had acquired around the circle, then took out his bottle of moon water and drank half of it before giving the rest of it to Tommy.

“What is this?” He asked blandly, taking it up in his hands and examining it.

“Moon water.”

“That sounds stupid,” Tommy complained, looking up at him.

“You literally just insulted a third of the fae plane’s religious beliefs,” Techno stated dryly.

“Oh,” Tommy stammered, looking back down at the bottle, “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to the moon.”

Tommy looked up towards the moon, “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Now drink the rest of it,” Techno told him.

Tommy quickly downed the rest of the bottle before handing it back to Techno. Techno slipped it back into his satchel and fished through his bag for a moment, bringing out two pieces of a shiny black rock and handing one piece to Tommy.

“Sorry it’s smaller, I wasn’t expecting to have to share. Just keep it in your pocket or something,” Techno narrated.

Tommy took the piece into his hand and rolled it around, “What is it?”

“Obsidian,” Techno explained, “It’s a protection thing.”

Tommy nodded like he knew what his brother meant and slipped it into his pocket, “Alright, now what?”

“Now we take a nap,” Tecno said simply.

“What? But we just did all of that?” Tommy stated in a perplexed tone.

“Well yes, it’s all set up now. When we fall asleep, we will be transported through. What, did you think we that the ground would be sucked out inside the circle as soon as I just some last crystal down?”

“Yeah..” Tommy said, clearly a little disappointed.

“Welp, sorry. It’ll be neat once we’re over there,” Techno insisted, laying himself down on the ground. Tommy followed suit, then the two waited in silence for soft sleep to take them.

It didn’t take long, something about the serenity of the forest and one another’s company, sleep found both of them with relative ease. The world faded away, but as soon as it did, a new one sprung up in its place. 

Tommy woke up first, having fallen asleep easier than his brother had. He was alone in the exact same spot Techno had left him in, was this just a cruel joke? 

Tommy sprung up, quickly looking around to see if he saw his brother anywhere, fear eating away at his mind as he drew to quick conclusions. Tommy slipped away in a direction, jogging along, before turning back to the site he had woken up at, but when he found himself there again, he tripped over a log he swore wasn’t there when he woke up.

Then the log yelled at him.

Tommy looked down to see Techno, lying prone on the ground and dramatically clutching his face from where Tommy had just unconsciously kicked him. 

“Oh my god, Techno! I thought you had just fucked me over and left me!” Tommy told him, looking down at his still slightly dazed brother.

Techno laughed at him, sitting up and brushing himself off, “Do I seem like the kind of guy to do that?” Techno asked rhetorically. 

Tommy rolled his eyes and waited for Techno to stand up beside him, looking out into the surrounding forests, “Alright, so what’s the plan?”

“Well,” Techno started, standing up and walking back the way Tommy could have just sworn they walked down, “We have to find a way into the palace without you know,” Techno motioned to himself, “Me getting murdered.”

“Why would they do that? You’re their prince,” Tommy stated.

“I’m a pig, Tommy,” Techno responded blatantly. “Plus I’m pretty sure the people were told that I had died in battle or something like that-” Techno stopped abruptly.

They came to the edge of the forest, and the city became the star of the show. It shone warmly in the night, distant buzzing and the soft crashing of the ocean merged into one as Techno’s eyes widened. A new warmth buried itself in Techno’s chest.

Tommy looked up at his shellshocked brother, then out in front to the kingdom, then back up at Techno, “Is it what you remember?”

Techno couldn’t get the words past his tongue for a minute but when he finally did it was barely above a whisper, “It’s a lot more.”

Techno excitedly grabbed his brother’s wrist and pulled him down the hill towards the walls if his city, not taking a moment to look back at his brother as he rushed forward.

The fae city had a lot fewer walls than the mortal city, but that made sense, war was a lot less common in the fae wilds. Techno stopped abruptly once again as it became much more visible that there were guards standing at the ready all across the first layer of walls.

“You’ve gotta stop doing that Techno, I’m gonna get fucking whiplash or something,” Tommy muttered.

“Alright, we’re going to use my cape to cover me up and then you’re going to tell the guards that you need to be brought to the king immediately and that you have found a creature in the woods,” Techno told Tommy, completely ignoring his complaint. 

“Uhh okay,” Tommy nodded.

Techno took his signature cape off and draped it across his head and shoulders and lead Tommy forwards towards the main gates.

As Techno guessed, they were met with a set of guards holding down the gate, and Tommy told them what he told him to say, adding in a little dramatic Tommy flare as he went on about finding an absolutely horrific creature in the woods and on and on until the guards couldn’t listen anymore and let him in. And just as Techno guessed, they were brought towards the palace. 

Techno couldn’t help it as his eyes wandered around the city he had grown up in. It had changed a lot but it still felt very much like home to him. He even recognized some of the buildings as they grew closer to the palace. 

The city was still relatively lively for it being after sunset, taverns and inns lit up the city as well as a few shops which were just now closing down for the night. Then they reached the gates that surrounded the palace. 

They were lower than the outer walls and kept in much better condition. They too had guards stationed all up and down them and were painted a warm white with a few creeping vines growing up them. 

They were quickly let through the gates and into the entry courtyard. It too looked better than Techno remembered. The palace spiraled high up into the sky, much like it did on the fae side, and the courtyards were all intricately kept. Only once he got through the palace gates did he take notice of the influx in banners. They were hung all about the walls and all had the same coat of arms. But instead of them being the coat he knew well and still donned on a shield he had made, it was a new one. One with a boar’s head at the centerpiece. 

It raised so many questions in Techno’s mind, had they been conquered? Had his parents and brother been overthrown and likely slaughtered like than had done to so many other kingdoms? Fear raced through Techno’s chest until he saw another peculiar sight, right in front of the entrance to the palace, stood a tall statue.

It was made out of pure gold by the looks of it and depicted two kids, probably around Tommy’s age. More questions swirled around in his mind as he drew closer to it before he realized.

It was him.

One of the boys in the statue was him, or well, who he was before he was transformed. And the other was his brother. 

Techno didn’t have long to stare at it as he was pushed forward again and into the palace, but it raised so many questions. But more importantly, it reminded Techno that he had forgotten what he looked like. He had forgotten a part of himself that he had so desperately wanted back. It disturbed him.

The main palace what very much how he remembered it, warm and gold and regal and terrifying, well to enemies of course. They were lead down a long red carpet which was surrounded by guards standing at full attention, watching will their full attention as Tommy, two guards, and the hidden Techno marched down the aisle.

Anxiety coursed through Techno’s entire body as they were brought before the platform where the main thone sat, Techno suddenly couldn’t find the courage to look up.

But Tommy definitely could. 

“Your Majesty,” Tommy stated, “I am here to present to you a face you have not seen in years.”

Oh god, oh no, Tommy what the fuck no no no-

“The lost prince of Hypixle!” He exclaimed, yanking the cape off of Techno’s head, revealing him and all of his pig-like ness to the court.

There was a collection of appalled gasps and screams as the guards around them pulled out their weapons and pointed them towards Tommy and Techno.

“How dare you call such a monster our prince!” One guard called out above the rest, raising up his sword to attack Tommy before being stopped in his tracks.

“Silence!” A voice boomed out across the rooms, drawing all of the attention towards it. Techno too looked up at its source, and sitting on the throne above them, sat a familiar face. It was his brother. 

And as the two locked eyes, his brother recognized him as well.

“Elias?” The king asked in disbelief.

Techno’s mind malfunctioned at the use of his birth name, he hadn’t been called by it since he had found himself on the fae wilds.

Tommy turned around and looked at Techno, “Who the fuck is Elias?” He questioned. 

Techno ignored him, eyes still glued on his brother, “Simon!” Techno exclaimed.

Simon quickly stood up from his throne and sat his crown down behind him and went to greet his lost brother, but was stopped by a wary guard.

“Sire, have you fallen ill? This… thing is most certainly not your brother. Has it used some form of black magic to enchant you?” The guard insisted.

Simon glared at the guard, “Do not question my intents. Leave my presence imminently and do not doubt my word,” He demanded, turning his attention to the entirety of the heavily confused room, “Same for the rest of you, leave our presence immediately.”

The room held still for a moment, staring at their king, believing him delusional, before the guard he had told off first nodded, mumbled an apology, and turned to leave, which soon made the rest of the guards follow.

Simon waited until the last guard had left the room before he turned his attention back to Techno and Tommy. He stepped down the stairs towards them and smiled.

“Oh my god, is it really you?” The king asked, reaching out his hand and placing it on Techno’s arm as if he was making sure his hand didn’t simply faze through him. 

Techno nodded wordlessly, then took a step towards him, before quickly taking another and hugging him. 

As the two embraced, Tommy was left awkwardly standing beside them, staring in confusion until Techno stepped back away from the king. 

Tommy looked up at his brother, “I’m sorry, who is this? And you never answered by the question about Elias-” Tommy questioned. 

Techno looked between Tommy and Simon for a moment, “Eh, well, Tommy… so Simon here is my brother,” Techno paused, turning to Simon, “And Simon, this is Tommy… who’s also my brother,” Techno hesitantly explained. “And my actual, birth name is Elias, Tommy.”

Both Tommy and Simon had very confused looks on their face. “I have a lot more time to explain to you, Tommy,” Techno stated, turning his attention back to Simon. “Uh, hey.”

Simon stepped towards his brother again and hugged him once more, “Oh my god, I thought you were dead, or like, I assumed something had happened because I never heard from you-”

“Ahhh come on, what’s the old saying ‘Elias Blade never dies’” Beside him, he heard Tommy scoff.

“Techno sounds better,” Tommy commented off-handedly.

Simon looked at him in confusion, “Who is Techno?”

Techno chuckled, “Oh, I have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Yeah, you do!” Both Tommy and Simon exclaimed at the same time, quickly looking at each other in shock before turning back to Techno. 

Techno laughed again, “How about we go somewhere more comfortable and I’ll explain as much as I can,” Techno told them.

Simon obliged and led them through the doors on either side of the podium where the thone sits and into a grand dining hall which sprung off into many more wings of the palace. Techno looked around in wonder and child-like amusement which really seemed to through Tommy for a loop.

They sat down at the grand table and chatted for hours upon hours as servers attended to them and fed them. At some point Tommy excused himself, having gotten bored of listening to them go on and on, and decided he would go and snoop around. 

He found himself walking through huge libraries, which explained a lot about Techno, and parlor rooms and multiple ballrooms and evening rooms and everything in between. It was incredibly luxurious but incredibly lonely. 

The only sounds were Tommy’s footsteps and the occasional shuffling of a maid who would put more wood on the fireplaces or be dusting away on the endless rows of shelves. It freaked Tommy out because he never saw them enter or exit the room, but they definitely weren’t there the entire time he was in a room either.

He found himself going up countless amounts of stairwells, stumbling across many opulent bedrooms and lounge areas until Tommy saw a tall iron spiral staircase in the back of a room that looked like it hadn’t been rearranged in years.

It took him a few minutes, but when Tommy found himself at the top of the stairs, he was taken aback. 

It was a dusty little area with books and sword diagrams and maps and long since dried dup paints and paintings with two little cots skewed across the room and a door that lead outside onto a small balcony.

Tommy walked out onto the balcony and up the set of spiral stairs that spirals around a spire of the castle, and as he walked up the curved stairs, he audibly gasped.

In front of him, the entire kingdom sprawled out. North, west, east, south, the entire kingdom and palace were visible and lit up. To the left of him, Tommy thought it was west but he had no honest idea, were the docks, and ocean. All below him, he could see the entire castle, and everywhere else there was either forest or city.

The wind was icy way up on top, he was at the highest point in the entire city and it was incredible, Tommy wondered if this is what it was like for Phil, Tubbo, and Wilbur with their wings. 

Tommy found himself a comfortable place to sit and wrapped himself up in the cape he had taken from Techno and not returned after their bit to get into the palace, and simply took in the view.

Tommy wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but at some point, his mindless staring was interrupted by the sound of familiar hooves climbing up the wrought iron spiral stairs.

He looked over his shoulder and saw Techno ascending the stairs, smiling at him as he walked to him and sat down, looking over the view.

“One hell of a view,” Tommy commented.

Techno nodded, “It was my view for 16 odd years,” Techno told him, “That loft that you crawled through to get here was my favorite spot in the entire castle, no one ever found me when I was there, and clearly from how dusty it is, no one ever found it after me.”

“Why are there two beds?” Tommy asked.

“I meant to show my brother this spot, but I also knew as soon as I showed it to him he would probably show his friends and I would have to find a new spot,” He told Tommy. 

“Do you have a place like this in Phil’s place?” Tommy asked, eyeing his brother.

Techno smirked, “Maybe a few. I mean, now with this kind of view of course, but I need somewhere to get away from you.”

“Will you show me when we get back home?” Tommy asked him, laying back and putting his head against his brother’s arm.

“We’ll see how much I like you when this is all over,” Techno remarked with a chuckle. The two sat in comfortable silence for a while.

[song; There Beneath by The Oh Hellos]

“You know that willow tree outside of the palace in the fields?” Tommy asked his brother and Techno nodded.

“Well, there beneath the willow tree I learned a lot about the way of things,” Tommy said, “I learned that everything, the wind, the leaves, has breath inside.” “They were pointing ever east to see the ever-turning aeon cease. Their wills were ever bent on waiting with all their might. I know this”

“There is beauty in the way of things,” Techno commented. He sat up and pointed down into the city below them towards the very outside wall. “There beyond the palisade, I saw the mourning lead a cavalcade. They made a marvel of a display, and it made me cry.”

There was silence before Tommy asked up, “Why?”

“It was for me. They were mourning me, I watched my own funeral brigade from up here,” Techno stated simply.

“Oh.” Tommy muttered, “So your parents told everyone that you died and they mourned you?”

“You sound surprised,” Techno mused.

“Only at the parents part, I would be pretty bummed if you died, don’t worry,” Tommy commented sleepily.

“Well, that’s reassuring,” He commented. 

“So where are your parents?” Tommy asked innocently.

Techno paused, almost hesitant to answer, “Well, you know how I told you about how I angered a god and that’s why I got turned into a pig?” Techno aksed and Tommy nodded, “Well, as it turns out, according to Simon, in doing so, I unknowingly became a disciple of that god and sure, they were mad with me, but they were even madder at the idea of my parents wanting to kill me because of my appearance,” Techno explained.

“So they were mad and cursed my parents and so they were both killed shortly after my ‘death’ which put Simon on the throne,” Techno explained to him, “Which clears up to me how I ended up in the fae wilds, I think they thought that’s where I would be safest.”

“That makes… sense,” Tommy nodded, slowly nodding off into sleep.

“Tommy you know if you fall asleep now you’ll wake up back in Minioplax,” Tecno reminded him, which quickly sent Tommy sitting right back up again.

“You should have told me that!” He exclaimed, making Tommy laugh. When Techno quieted back down, Tommy looked back up at him, “What are we going back?”

Techno looked up at the sky, narrowing his eyes as they fell towards the moon, “Oh, it’s actually getting pretty early. We should be back to the circle within an hour. So maybe we’ll get up in ten? I want to show you something and then say goodbye to my brother,” Techno told him.

“Brother,” Tommy echoed.

“That is what he is, yes,” Techno nodded.

After a moment of silence, Tommy stared Techno dead in the eyes, “Are you going to leave me?”

Techno blinked at Tommy dumbly, taking a moment to take in his question, “What- leave you?”

“Yeah, leave me for this place and Simon,” Tommy said innocently. 

Techno stared out into the dark void around them, “Well, one day, probably,” Techno admitted, “But not forever. You and Phil, and Kristin hell I guess Wilbur and Tubbo now as well are just as much of my family as Simon is. But that’s the thing, you all have each other, Simon is alone. I’m the only family he has right now and he only today learned I’m still alive,” Techno explained. 

“Oh, I see,” Tommy said distantly, “But you’ll still come and visit us, right?”

“Of course,” Techno reassured.

There was silence between the two before Tommy spoke again, “I’d miss you.”

“Well I’d miss you too, that is why I would visit you and Phil and the rest.”

“Sometimes you don’t act like it,” Tommy mentioned casually.

Techno frowned a little, “Tommy, I’m only harsh to you because if anything ever happened to you I would blame myself,” Techno told him.

“You’re not mean to Wilbur,”

“Tommy, I think he’s immortal just like rest, he’s just younger like Tubbo,”

“Oh…” Tommy stated, “So we’re the only two who can die of like… natural causes and sickness and shit?”

Techno nodded, “And we die of swords and sharp things a lot easier.”

“That sucks for us,” Tommy commented.

“It does,” Techno agreed, “But that’s just why I snap at you sometimes, I don’t want you to be or be put in any dangerous situations because of me or anyone else.”

“That’s very nice of you,” Tommy said, which earned him a light bop on the head from his brother. 

Techno looked over at the moon once again and nodded to himself, “Alright, we’d better get a move on,” Techno said, standing up and reaching a hand out to help pull Tommy up.

When Tommy stood up, the two stood side by side, taking in the view one last time. Techno put his arm around his brother. “I love you, Toms. Just remember that,” Techno told him and Tommy nodded with a warm smile.

The two turned to go, Techno led Tommy back through his loft and down the tall spiral stairs, taking a quick detour to show Tommy their war room which had paraphernalia from the many wars and battles that their kingdom had fought and won, taking special time to show Tommy all the items from when he himself led a battalion, picking up a blade that he used as his main weapon.

“You’re not really going to take that, are you? You already have way too many,” Tommy complained.

Techno briefly unsheathed it. It was in the rajput style and the blade was made out of obsidian with golden ornamenting. He sheathed it again and turned to Tommy.

“Why don’t you take it?” Techno said, placing it in Tommy’s hands.

“Oh…” Tommy said, surprised by his brother’s sudden offer.

“Simon gave it to me years ago, and you know how I love irony,” Techno said with a laugh.

“Are you sure? What if it breaks?” Tommy said.

“I’ll show you how to take care of it and all, and it’ll last you a lifetime, don’t worry. Obsidian blades almost never even dull down, much less break,” Techno informed him.

“You and your stupid knowledge of rocks,” Tommy commented.

“I mean if you want me to take it back-” Techno started.

“Oh no no no, no, I quite like it,” Tommy assured, “Thank you,” he said honestly.

Techno smiled at him and nodded, “Alright, well it’s time to go. We’ll say bye to Simon and we’ll be out of here.”

And so that’s what they did, Simon and Techno said their goodbyes, and Techno assured him he would return in the not too distant future. They gave each other one more embrace before they turned to leave.

Not too long after they were back in the woods. Tommy made sure he gripped his sword as tight as he could before he fell asleep in an effort to make sure it crossed over the worlds and he didn’t just leave an incredibly important sword in the middle of the woods.

Tommy was about to doze off when he heard Techno mutter something to him.

“Oh, and Tommy?” He said. Tommy made some vague sound of acknowledgment.

“If you even think about mentioning the name Elias, I’ll make sure you wake up alone in the woods for good this time,” Techno threatened. Tommy fell asleep with a small smile on his face.


	13. chapter twelve

Tommy woke up the next morning beside Tubbo in the inn that they had booked the day prior. His friend was squirming around in his sleep, probably about to wake up, but still trying to steal all of the blankets he could. 

Tommy sat himself up quickly, looking around in confusion. He and Techno had been out just hours ago, right? They fell back asleep in Hypixel and Tommy assumed they would wake up in the forest, but Tommy never remembered the trek from the woods back to the inn. But it was so vivid, it was real, right?

Tommy hoped it was anyway. Maybe that was just some kind of extra magic thing Techno had set up so that they didn’t have to make the walk back. He shrugged and pulled himself out of bed to get dressed. 

As he dragged his feet across the floor, still too tired in the morning haze to care, Tommy was casually walking across the level floor one second but then on the floor the other. Tommy heard his friend jump up at the sound of his tumble and quickly scurry over to the end of the bed to look at him.

Tommy flipped over on his back and looked down at his feet to see what he tripped over- oh. It was the sheathed sword that Techno had given him the previous night in before they left. Well, that answered Tommy’s questions.

Tubbo blearily looked between him and the sword, then back at Tommy, “M’what?” he murmured in confusion. 

Tommy sat his head heavily back down on the floor, “’s a long story,” Tommy groaned. His running around all throughout the night plus the traveling they had done all day up onto that point hit Tommy like a horse, and he wasn’t sure if he could will himself off the floor for at least an hour. 

“Are you going to get off the floor?” Tubbo asked him, still lying face down in the bed.

“Mmm no,” Tommy told him.

“Okay,” Tubbo said, pushing himself forward and onto the floor beside Tommy, tumbling loudly and almost falling blatantly on top of his friend.

Tommy fumbled out of the way of his friend, “Oh my god Tubbo-” Tommy started.

“I’m going back to sleep,” Tubbo insisted.

Tommy paused, sighed, then responded, “Me too.”

And Tommy did. He fell asleep once again, on the floor, next to his best friend. About two hours go by before someone finally walks into their room to get them up and out.

Phil was, to be quaint, just a little confused why they were asleep on the floor, but at this point, he didn’t question it too much. He walked over to the two curled up dead asleep on the floor and kicked them in the side lightly in an effort to wake up.

“Good afternoon, boys,” Phil’s voice rang out.

Tubbo’s eyes fluttered open while Tommy curled himself up even further and shut his eyes, “Noooo,” he whined, “Five more minutes, Phil.”

“Tommy, it’s almost two o’clock in the afternoon,” Phil told him.

At that, Tommy shot up, “Oh my god! Why didn’t you just tell me!” He insisted.

Beside him, Tubbo also hastily got himself up beside Tommy. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and did some addition on his fingers, “I’ve been asleep for… 17 hours?” 

“I thought you boys needed it. It doesn’t matter much anyway, I’ve just been down by the docks for most of the day getting us a ship while the rest gather supplies or are also sleeping. I think Techno is finally getting some sleep too,” Phil told them. “I have us a boat prepared at the harbor, I'm thinking we leave around five-thirty or six.”

Tommy and Tubbo nodded, “That sounds like a good plan,” Tommy agreed, “How long is the boat trip? And what about the horses?”

“We’ll be out there for four or five days, so make sure you have books or something to keep yourself entertained. As for the horses, we’ll be leaving them here and we’ll get them on our way back. The city we’ll be docking in is a lot like this city and it has places where we can get some horses,” Phil told them. 

The two nodded, “Alright, so be down there is like, three hours?” Tommy said, confirming.

Phil nodded, “Yep, then we’ll be on our merry way.”

Phil gave the boys a small wave and turned around, walking out of the room, leaving the two alone.

There wasn’t much to do in anticipation of the trip. Just preparing and packing back up. Tommy and Tubbo followed each other around for most of the day, stopping by vendors and merchants to get some food or trinkets or whatnot. They followed Wilbur and Techno around when they came out, but were quickly bored by Techno droning on about trying to find a library.

Soon enough, the evening had rolled around. The sun hovered over the water as the party all met up on the docks. Phil had managed to secure them a nice beat, with him being a lord Tommy guessed people couldn’t really say no. 

The strange part to Tommy was how small the crew was, in fact, it only consisted of two people, and only one seemed to have any actual knowledge about the boat. The other just dressed nicely. These two introduced themselves as George and Sapnap. 

George was the well dressed one. He had large round goggles that covered his eyes and were adorned in what looked like some far off land’s royal navy uniform. His skin was sickly pale but he seemed to be in fine spirits and was bouncing around with his companion. 

Sapnap was his companion’s name. He looked a lot more like the rest of the sailors on the dock, billowy shirt, work pants, whatever, he also had a white piece of cloth wrapped around his head as a headband. Tommy noted that he often stumbled over his legs like he wasn’t sure of them.

Tommy didn’t put much thought into them, he figured they would talk more once they set out so he just wandered by them. Tommy and Tubbo spent some time searching through the ship, but when Tommy and Tubbo had circled around the bow of the boat, Wilbur appeared from around a corner to get them to help move all of their food crates and whatnot into the hull.

Soon enough, everything was loaded onto the ship. Phil was running through all the boxes to make sure, but once he came up and gave George and Sapnap the go-ahead, they were out of the port before the sun was fully lost to the horizon.

Tommy sat with Tubbo on the deck in calm silence, watching as the coast drifted further and further away. The soft rocking and creaking of the wooden ship under them lulling them into the quiet serenity.

As nightfall came upon the water, the two could see lanterns and lights being lit up in the distant city, the tall spires of the castle looking like nothing but an interesting forest line. Other places along the coast lit up as well, little cities tucked away in the mountains. 

Somewhere in the back of Tommy’s mind, he realized that this could be the last time he, or Tubbo, or anyone else in their party, saw their homeland again. They were ebbing closer and closer to imminent danger and irreversible damages with every second. Tommy looked over at his friend and scooted closer, loosely wrapping his arm around his companion’s.

“It’s exciting, isn’t it? This is the farthest I’ve ever gone,” Tubbo rambled, not taking his eyes off the horizon as if he was scared that when he looked away, it would all be gone. 

“Yeah, I guess,” Tommy commented, absent-mindedly biting the inside of his lip.

“What, you think two or three weeks we’ll be back?” Tubbo asked innocently.

Tommy shrugged, “Yeah, maybe. I think Phil said once we dock in a few days it’s like a five-day journey to the capitol.”

Tubbo nodded, watching at the skyline fully swallow the last light of the city before looking back at his friend. 

Behind him, Tommy heard footsteps creaking over wood. He turned himself around to look at whoever was approaching. Emerging from the quarters were Wilbur, Techno, and Big Q, who were all laughing and chatting with each other. Wilbur and Big Q now had matching guitars thrown over their shoulders. 

They turned their attention towards Tommy and Tubbo sitting together on the bow and beckoned them over. The duo turned to each other before pulling themselves off the floor and walking over.

“We’re waiting on dinner to be ready,” Wilbur told them, “So me and Big Q are going to play.”

“And I too, am here,” Techno added sarcastically, walking past Tommy and Tubbo and gazing out onto the water.

“Anyways, we thought we’d hang around up here,” Big Q added, looking around the bare deck before shrugging and sitting down, placing his guitar carefully across his lap. 

Wilbur followed suit, sitting adjacent to Big Q. Techno turned back around and laid himself out across the bow and Tommy and Tubbo sat down beside each other again.

Big Q and Wilbur strummed their guitars, tuning them as they went and starting to murmur about chords and strumming patterns and songs and their fingers casually danced around the neck of the guitar.

Tommy cast his eyes up to the stars. It was a relatively clear night with all of the clouds hovering above the land, not as much the sea. There was no light except for two lanterns beside the doors of the quarters to drown out the light of the stars.

The moon was just starting to wax again, having gone through the whole waning cycle since they had left the palace, as the harvest festival was always on a full moon. That festival felt like months ago to Tommy, not two weeks. 

Beside him, Techno cleared his throat. Tommy looked over at his brother who cast his arm towards the sky, “See that cluster of stars, Tommy?” He asked.

Tommy nodded, humming a little noise of acknowledgment. 

“Those are the seven stars,” Techno told him, “There's a bunch of mythology behind them, stuff involving Noiro who is just below them,” Techno commentated, lowering his arm and pointed towards the Noiro constellation. 

“Back in my world, there was this empire known as Xaisea. They were around for maybe eight hundred years before they were split up into a gaggle of different states. Hypixel is actually one of them,” Techno commented, “The Xaiseas were a brilliant group who have their own pantheon and mythology and all. They were wildly successful until the last emperor didn’t have a kid before he died which set a power vacuum into motion.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Tommy said blatantly.

Techno continued anyways, “So the nation fell and a bunch of the big cities broke apart and became their own little countries, then proceeded to go to war with each other in an attempt to reunite all the city-states,” Techno paused for a moment, “Anyways, all of this to say that they have their own pantheon and mythology and the seven stars and Noiro have a whole backstory together.”

“Interesting,” Tommy mumbled, having stopped giving his brother his full attention minutes ago. Yeah, it was interesting to learn about his home and what not but oh my god could the man drone on and on about topics Tommy didn’t fully understand or necessarily care about. 

Beside them, Wilbur and Big Q had tuned their guitars and were warmed up, showing each other chord progressions and talking about sea shanties.

“So my thing is I usually just make up lyrics as I go,” Big Q said, “I was like- a bard I guess for my group.”

Wilbur nodded, “That’s what I did as well when I was with them-”

Not interesting. Tommy didn’t really care. Tommy decided he had enough of listening to people, he preferred it when it was just him and Tubbo. Tommy sat himself up and poked at Tubbo who was lying beside him, staring blankly into the sky.

His attention snapped back to Tommy as soon as he poked him. He looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Tommy motioned that he was going to walk away and Tubbo nodded and sat himself up as well.

The two stood up and wandered towards the quarters, Tommy looked over his shoulder at the group they were leaving behind, “We’ll be around, just gonna look for Deo or something, just yell when dinner is ready,” Tommy called out, disappearing behind the door with Tubbo close behind. 

Tommy and Tubbo wandered around the boat in comfortable silence, looking at little trinkets and paintings that decorated the interior of rooms. It was nothing too fancy, but it wasn’t completely barren. 

They wandered past some rooms, they saw Deo and Eret asleep in some lofts in one room, then a bunch of empty rooms, then the room their stuff had been placed in along with another. There were three twin beds in the cabin, two of which were barren with their individual bags resting at the ends of the bed, then on the other bed, there was a familiar person.

Jack was resting in the third twin bed, his feet propped up on his luggage and a book in his hands. Tommy saw his head tilt up towards them as he gave them a small wave.

“Hey guys,” Jack greeted, “What are you guys up to?”

Tubbo waved back as Tommy shrugged, “Nothing much, just wandering.”

Jack nodded, placing his book down beside him, “Care if I join in?”

Tommy shook his head as Jack pulled himself off the bed and walked over to the two, “I don’t know about you two but this place is kinda creeping me out.”

Tubbo cocked his head, “I think you’re just weird.”

“Yeah, it’s a boat, man. How weird can it be?” Tommy added.

Jack shrugged, “Well you two haven’t been down here, I just hear random footsteps and creaking- fucking off,” he told them.

“You’ve got ghosts in ‘de ‘ed man,” Tubbo said, narrowing his eyes.

Jack threw his head back with a laugh, “What’s that supposed to mean! I’m just down here, minding my business or whatever and I get random chills, something isn’t right, I swear-”

“No no, Jack. You’ve just got a case of ye ol’ ghosts in ‘de ‘ed,” Tommy said with a confident nod, a small spark igniting in his eyes. “It’s a serious medical problem.”

Jack chuckled, “Oh yeah? Well, how do I fix it then oh wise Tomathy?”

Tommy thought for a moment, “Cognitive recalibration.”

“What the fuck does that-”

Before Jack could finish his sentence, Tubbo had taken a book off the shelf beside him and thrown it at Jack’s head, hitting him square in the forehead.

Jack stumbled back a little, looking over at Tubbo, “Hey!” Jack yelled with a laugh.

“Oh, it didn’t work,” Tommy commented, “Tubbo, do it again!” Tommy ordered.

Tubbo pulled another book from the shelf and raised it up, but Jack was ready this time. He laughed himself back behind his bed and grabbed the room he had just set down.

“Stay back! Stay back!” Jack called out theatrically, chucking the book at Tommy.

When the book collided with Tommy, he dramatically fell over, draping his hand over his forehead, “You’ve wounded me, Jack Manifold.” Tommy looked up at Tubbo from the floor, “Avenge me, my dear companion,” He called out, then went limp.

Tubbo was already doubled over with laughter. But he nodded and turned to have his opponent across the room, “You shall pay for what you have done, Jack Manifold, I have the high ground!” Tubbo called out, motioning to the bookcase behind him.

“I won’t go down without a fight, Tubbo!” Jack called out, pulling a book out of his bag, and launched at Tubbo, who swerved around it and watched it as it hit the shelf behind him. Tubbo shrugged and turned back to Jack.

Tubbo dived for a book and haphazardly chucked it back at Jack. He then went for another and another and Tommy stood up beside him and helped him, the two emptying out the bookcase on Jack, who was subsequently drowning in books. 

“I surrender!” Jack finally called out, shaking himself out from under the books, struggling to pull in a breath from laughing for so long. He looked over at the two, who were also red from laughter, but his expression quickly changed.

Tommy saw his sudden change, “Uh, you alright Jack? You look like you’ve seen a ghost-” 

Jack seemed to the staring at a point on the wall behind them, Tommy turned out to see what he was looking at and-

Holy shit-

Just above their heads, two books were hovering, looking like they were about to be laughed towards Jack. Tubbo also turned around and when he saw it, he froze too.

The three let out a shriek in unison. Tommy and Tubbo fumbled around and launched themselves into the pile of books where Jack was.

The three sat silently, watching as the books lowered themselves, the three casting terrified glances between each other and the books. “What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck-” Tommy muttered.

Beside him, Jack cleared his throat, his voice wavering as he hesitantly spoke out towards the flying books, “Uh… hey… levitating books,” Jack chuckled a bit out of confusion and fear, “Yeah, yeah… what the fuck are you?”

Laughing sounded out through the room, bouncing off the wooden walls. Something started to happen where the books were, a body appeared out of the air.

It was wearing a long green overcoat that gave it an almost triangle appearance, and it was pretty ragged. Nothing came out from under it, no legs, no feet, and instead of a face, they were greeted with a bone-white mask with a simple smiley face carved out of it. There didn’t seem to be anything behind the mask either. 

Its body hovered up and down a few inches and as they stared at it longer, the more it was clear that they were staring at some kind of spirit or apparition.

It’s while gloved hands dropped the books suddenly, causing the three boys to jump. But instead of coming closer to them, it just waved with its eerie little mask. 

“Hello,” It greeted casually. 

Jack, Tubbo, and Tommy were all at a loss for words- what were you even supposed to say when something like this happens? Did anyone know about this thing? Was this all an elaborate scheme for them to get brutally murdered by a creepy-ass cone ghost? Probably, Tommy assumed.

“What the fuck?” Tommy yelled. Yeah, that worked well enough. 

The thing laughed again, “Ohh, it’s all okay,” The thing insisted.

“No- no it's really not-” Tubbo stated, “Who are you? What are you? Why? What the hell?”

It shrugged, “This is my boat you see, and you guys seemed to be having a fun time! So I joined in!” The spirit insisted.

“Whatthefuckdoyoumeanthisisyourboat? This isn’t your boat- you’re a fucking floaty ass bitch,” Tommy yelled.

It chuckled, “Well sure it is- my buddies up there, Sapap and George just run it for me because-” His masked head looked down at his see-through hands, “I have a slight disability.”

“But you’re dead-” Jack budded in.

“Well no need to point it out,” It said dramatically, “Can’t a guy just own his ship in peace,” it muttered, sitting down on the bed in the center of the room shaking.

“I- What?” Tubbo said, still baffled, “So, I- I-” Tubbo stuttered, trying to wrap his head around it.

“My name is Dream, and I’m the captain of this here vessel,” The spirit introduced.

The three boys were still baffled, looking between each other and the spirit sitting on the bed. Jack spoke up again, “Well, if this is your boat, why are we just now meeting you? Does anyone else know you’re here?” He demanded.

It- Dream, shrugged, “I can still do menial tasks here and there,” He told them, “And no, I mean besides George and Sap, none of the rest know. Usually, people are… dissuade by my presence,” Dream admitted.

“Well yeah, that’s because you fuckin’ throw books at random people!” Tommy cut in.

The ghost let out a wheezy laugh, “I was helping you!” Dream insisted. 

“Hey-” Tommy was about to go off on some high-speed tangent before a different voice rang out through the quarters.

“Tommy? Tubbo?” Big Q’s voice rang out, “I’ve been told that you two need to find Jack then head up to the dining room.”

The three looked around and nodded to each other, Tubbo looked up at Dream, “Do you want to come to dinner with us?” he asked politely,

“Tubbo you can’t just-” Tommy started, but got cut off by a pleasant-sounding Dream.

“I would love to,” Dream insisted, floating off the bed and towards the door. Tommy, Tubbo, and Jack all stood up and followed him.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, I don’t actually know where the dining hall is…” He admitted.

Tubbo and Tommy took a moment to rack their brains before shrugging in unison, “Yeah, me neither,” Tommy concurred. 

“Well, I guess it’s good you guys have me,” Dream side, swiftly cutting in front of them and leaving them through the halls. 

Soon enough they had made it to the dining hall, Dream and the boys made an agreement that he would turn himself invisible while the three explained what had happened so it wouldn’t be as much of a shock. 

They entered the room, it was the nicest one Tommy had seen yet. It was well decorated with a large dark wooden table with plenty enough seats to fit everyone. It was definitely the largest room on the ship as it took up almost an entire floor, only sharing it with a kitchen and a small parlor. 

They waved and greeted everyone at the table and sat down, leaving a chair between them and the rest of the group. When questioned about it, Tubbo started the explanation, recounting the events that had transpired in the last ten minutes to the group.

They were… confused, most certainly, though back behind in the kitchen where George and Sapnap were scurrying around, Tommy heard then snickering about it. Once Tubbo was done explaining, in the supposedly empty chair, Dream appeared, waving.

The rest of the night passed in slight confusion, many questions were tossed around, but b the time the food came out they were all listening to Dream.

They had a casual dinner, then people started to disperse again, Dream went to hand around with his friends, Techno went with Eret and Deo back out onto the bow and Jack followed after them soon after telling Tommy and Tubbo goodnight.

The duo soon scurred away through the warmly lit corridors of the quarters again, mumbling sleepily to one another before they made it back to their rooms. They simultaneously looked between one another and the large pile of books still scattered about on the floor then shrugged and turned back towards their cots, Tommy chuckling a little. 

“You going to sleep?” Tubbo aksed him.

Tommy nodded, “Strange shit has happend, tired. You?”

Tubbo shrugged, “Might read or something, but I’ll leave the room if I do,” He assured him.

Tommy nodded, then launched himself into his bed, “Goodnight Tubs,” he mumbled.

“Goodnight Toms,” Tubbo responded sweetly, sitting in his bed as well. 

And like a light, Tommy was out.


	14. chapter thirteen

It was smooth sailing for the majority of the five days the party was on board. A few evening showers would fall upon the deck but there was never so much of a hard-hitting wave, it was rather relaxing. Like a spa day before the end of the world.

It was clear however that by the end of the five days, Tommy was rather fed up with having nothing to do, so he chose to get on everyone's nerves. That was the only reason Techno felt such a strong wave of relief as the shore appeared over the horizon.

Many nights, Techno found himself sleeping under the stars rather than in the comfort of the cabins, he guessed it was from the habits he had picked up while traveling. Some nights someone would join him, either for the whole night or just parts. Phil, Wilbur, Deo, sometimes Tubbo or Tommy would even come out and try and chat.

The most interesting person that came out on the deck with Techno was most certainly Dream. Perhaps it was just because it was a new face, or perhaps the lull of mystery, after all it was very obvious that Dream was a dead man walking.

He didn’t step on the ground, instead he hovered over the creaking boards of the ship. I left Techno on edge, but maybe it was just karma, after all Tommy always complained about Techno barely making a sound. The only way Techno ever knew if Dream was around was if he could feel his presence; a gust of wind, the ever faint rustling of his cloak, whatever.

And that is just what he heard behind him as the sun started to rise and the coast started getting closer and closer.

“Hello, Dream,” Techno muttered, not taking his eyes off of the glowing horizon.

“We won’t be able to dock until the full morning,” Dream told him, “I decided we’re docking in a smaller city, didn’t want to have to deal with too much traffic or lack of resources.”

Techno nodded, turning around to face Dream’s porcelain mask. He nodded at the spirit as he walked away from the edge of the boat and stood square beside Dream. “And what of you and your crew?”

Dream shrugged, “Well I've been thinking about that,” he said, “I’ve heard so much about your travels in the past few days- I will admit to you Techno, I miss it. I used to run around this plane and the mortal one with Sapnap and George, doing quests and being up bad guys, whatever. Hell, before I met them I was a hired mercenary, traveling the planes for some quick cash and fun,” Dream told him.

Techno thought for a moment, but it wasn’t a very hard decision, “If you and your friends would like to join us, you’re more than welcome to,” raised his brow, looking down at the porcelain mask, “You’ve done travel in the mortal plane?”

“Sure I have, that’s where I’m from after all. I happened to meet a rather unfortunate fate while I was going around with George and Sap, we were trying to stop some trade, someone trying to smuggle magic across planes, you know how magic can get corrupt when it goes across planes?” Dream casually mentioned, really asking a rhetorical question, but Techno stopped him.

“What? Corruption?” Techno asked curiously, “I’ve never heard much about that.”

Dream shrugged, “I believe we have a book on it somewhere on this ship, I’ll lend it to you if I can find it; the basis is that if magic is conjured in the mortal plane by a mortal and it’s taken across the worlds it gets- shattered? Shattered is what the book calls it,” Dream tells the pig-man.

“And so you were trying to stop someone from getting across worlds? I can’t imagine it would be that strong if it was mortally conjured in the mortal plane- plus how could they jump worlds? Pure mortals can’t do that,” Techno inquired.

“Well if they can do magic in the mortal plane, what stops them from jumping planes? Magic in the mortal world just takes from the fae, like the fae takes from the fae,” Dream explains, “It’s just that magic is looked down upon and it’s mostly just looked at as something their deities can use. Trying to use magics in the mortal plane looks like your trying to become a god,”

“Such is how the high Captain got here, cast out of his world for trying to become a god, but I’m sure you know that,” Dream finished.

Techno nodded, he did know that of course, everyone who had heard of the Captain had heard such. He was a good man however, fair in his rule. It was his kingdom who they were traveling to, the capital of the continent, he had fully made a name for himself from the ground up. He was basically Tubbo and Tommy’s icon; Tommy for he was a mortal, just like him, and Tubbo was just enthralled with his entire presence.

Techno looked back at Dream from his mind, “Anyways, continue on what you were saying beforehand.”

Dream nodded, “Long story short, we ran into some sour company, they had these swords made out of some kind of wicked crystal that when it stabbed me through, separated my soul from my body, my body lies in the mortal plane and my spirit is here, if I were ever to return to the mortal plane I would… fully die I guess, body and soul merge once more and I find peace.”

Techno pondered about what Dream told him, “So you used corrupted magic?”

Dream didn’t respond for a minute, sending a chill up Techno’s spine. “Well,” Dream started, “Yeah. Yeah, I did, that’s how I ended up here with my friends. I was cast out of my home so I turned to the fae.”

“So your friends came with you? You all studied fae magic?” Techno asked him.

“Ehhh,” Dream shrugged, “Neither of them are human, but Sapnap and I met early on, he’s a siren-merman thing. He calls himself a siren but I’ve always argued that a siren is what Wilbur is.”

Techno nodded, “I think both are correct.”

Dream continued, “Anyways, George was a friend of Sapnap’s who stayed over in the fae so I met him when I crossed over. He’s a changeling.”

“So you got the ship from Sapnap?” Techno asked the ghost.

Dream chuckled, “Ehh.. you could say that. Well for our own sake let's say that George has definitely always been the captain of this boat-”

“You stole the boat?”

“We stole the boat,” Dream confirmed quickly, shuffling his overcoat around, “I mean like- we needed a way to travel- and Gorge so happens to be able to shapeshift into people- so you know.”

Techno cut in with a laugh, “Sure, sure.”

“Long story short Techno, dead men tell no tales,” Dream shrugged, Techno was pretty sure if he had a face, Dream would have a smug smirk.

The two stood in silence, watching the horizon for a while longer. Eventually Dream gave Techno a small nod before wandering off, probably to talk with Sapnap and George about docking or whatever else it took to man a boat. Techno wasn't very familiar with it all.

He wasn’t actually sure he fully remembered the last time he had been on a boat. Since he had come to the fae wilds, sure, he’d explored the continent some, but Phil always preferred for him to stay somewhat close to home. He hadn’t been as far as the ocean in almost any direction.

Then, of course, back home- or Hypixel. Techno didn’t know what to call it. It… was his home after all, but would that make the palace not him home? Techno didn’t particularly know and he didn’t want to spend too much time thinking about it. He would cross that bridge when he came to it.

Techno shook the thoughts out of him fine- anyways, back in Hypixel when he was a general of sorts he would often go with his father to other cities, it was a port city anyhow. Techno remembered as a child, his tutor taught him how to sail a small boat and of course military rowboats, but a boat as big as the one he was on now? He didn’t really have the slightest crew. Techno always preferred the land. He was glad they were almost to the coast.

It seemed warmer on this coast, the beaches were actual beaches, not just tall cliffs. The continent they were landing on was known for being a little warmer, while they had some mountains in the center where the capital was, they had nice beaches and even some tropical forests on not too distant islands.

The salt in the air was still heavy, but the warmer wind was refreshing. Those mountains had gotten cold in the nights that Techno couldn’t find sleep, hopefully, now it wouldn’t be quite so bad.

The orders of Sapnap, George, and Dream rang out now, the three calling out to one another with orders and commands and whatnot. Techno finally tore his attention off of the coast, Dream said they should be ready with all of their stuff by noon, he guessed he had better go and pack up. Maybe look through some of the shelves for that book Dream mentioned.

When Techno retired to his room, he found a still-warm cup of coffee with a note from Phil and all of his stuff already piled up on the bed, Techno just needed to fold and pack it, Techno couldn't help but smile a little, Phil was too nice to him. Well assuming he didn’t just make Tommy do it and credit himself, well not that Techno cared much, so good on Phil either way.

Techno easily packed his stuff up and sat his bags outside his now barren room then returned to his cup of coffee, taking it up in between his palms and going to wander through the bookshelves, might as well get started on the search.

The hours until noon waned as the sound of gulls and other sea birds were heard clear overhead, as well as Tommy and Tubbo’s cries as they attempted to help Sapnap, but from what Techno gathered from listening, George chewed them out about something and Eret and Deo helped instead.

Tommy and Tubbo, on their walk of shame away from the deck, saw Techno sprawled out on the floor surrounded by books. His back had started to hurt from being curled up on himself from searching the lower shelves and he had gotten distracted by all the sounds.

They shuffled towards him and waited for him to acknowledge them. Techno hesitated to do so, maybe he could just make them believe he had died tragically in a bookcase incident and they would leave him.

Alas, they didn’t. Techno watched the two stand adjacent to him, very awkwardly as well. Techno looked back up towards the ceiling and grumbled something.

That seemed to be a go-ahead for the boys as they quickly sat down on the squeaky food floor and scooted towards him.

“What are you doing Techno?”

“Did we hit a big wave? Are you cleaning up?”

“I haven’t felt anything- are you looking for something,”

“Well look how far the books are Tommy, I bet they fell off in the night or something. Are you okay Techno?”

Techno internally sighed before sitting himself up and turning his back away from the duo and back towards the bookshelves. “Yep, just looking for something.”

“Haha! I was right Tubbo you dumb motherfu-”

“Do you want our help?” Tubbo asked, scooting himself beside Techno again and taking the books he had previously torn out and put them back on the shelf.

“I guess, yeah. If you and Tommy just want to put some books back on the shelves,” Techno shrugged.

“What are you even looking for?” Tommy asked.

“A book on corrupted magic, I don’t know what it’s called but Dream said he had one-”

“Like this?” Tubbo said innocently, holding up a dull green book with gold-leaf embossed letters that spelled out ‘CORRUPTED’ with some other words around it.

Techno felt his soul leave his body in that very moment, with a sign he nodded, “Ah, yep. Yep, that’s probably the one.”

Tubbo smiled and handed it to Techno, who carefully laid it aside and slowly started putting the books back on their shelves, eventually being overtaken by Tommy and Tubbo who decided the best way to get it done as quickly as they would be to race. Perhaps the shelf didn’t look the nicest once they were done, but alas it was done and Techno had the book.

Techno thanked the two before standing himself up and going back up to the deck where a few other people were standing around. Dream had told Techno correctly, it was almost noon and Sapnap, George, Jack, and Big Q were running around the deck, getting the boat ready for connecting to the dock.

Within half an hour, the boat was docked and everyone else had emerged to the deck with their baggage, eagerly waiting to be released into the solid world.

The village presented in front of Techno was pleasant, it was much smaller than the city they had departed from five days prior. The town was quaint, built out of timber and warmly painted clay and thatched roofs. The smell of the salt was strong, but as the group walked up the hill where the town was located, the smell of salt was drowned out by the fresh smell of bakeries and livestock.

Dream and his friends had stayed back on the docks to speak to the stevedore in order to find where they could keep their boat while they traveled with the rest of the party while in the village, Phil instructed Deo to keep Tommy and Tubbo in check while he and Techno went to find who they need to speak with to get horses for the ever-growing group.

Techno and Phil wandered through the center of the village, Techno had to practically drag Phil through the market stalls as he stopped as each individual stall that sold baked goods or silks, two things Phil was equally fond of, it always made Techno laugh.

Techno assured him that Tommy and Tubbo were probably hounding Deo to let them get some kind of sweet baked goods that they could all share once they got the horses. The two continued through the town, slowly wandering farther and farther out of the center of town until they finally found it.

Sitting up on a quaint hill, surrounded by rings and pastures, was the rather large stables that Dream had mentioned to Phil. Techno and Phil could see some farmhands wandering around, sweeping the center hall, carrying buckets of water, and square hay bales.

The pair were warmly greeted by the people who scurried around the barn as they approached and one was quick to grab the owner of the stables who spoke with Phil and Techno about their party predicament.

They discussed their plan, how many horses they would need, how experienced everyone was with steeds, payment, travel, time, and whatever else needed to be discussed. The owner seemed slightly hesitant to lease out so many of his horses, but that tension seemed to fade as soon as Phil brought up money. Greedy? Sure. Fuck tons of horses? Also yes, and that’s what they needed.

Not too much longer and Phil and the owner had come to their agreement. Phil had the bright idea of taking their tack with them, so they just needed three for Sapnap, George, and Dream. Though Techno pointed out the problems that Dream both helped and hindered. Could he ride a horse? Techno was completely unsure about spirit physics, but Phil seemed to have discussed that as well. Apparently, when he wanted to, Dream could collapse back into the porcelain mask that transposed his nonexistent face and should be carried around by George and Sapnap until they set down camp. He also didn’t weigh anything so if he wanted to, he could simply hover over his friends, which seemed like an easy enough fix.

And then, Phil and Techno were back to walking across the village. Agreements came to and horses leased, they just needed to make sure that no members of their party had managed to get arrested in the hour or less the two had been gone for.

They made it through the market again without Phil impulsive buying anything they really didn’t need when from behind them, back towards the market square, there was a loud thud, followed by some clattering, followed by some yelling.

Phil and Techno eyed each other and whipped around, hastily walking back to the market to see what the sudden commotion was about, though it was pretty easy to assume what had happened.

They arrived in the market as a shardmind, a creature made purely out of usually precious crystalline structures pushed past them with something in its hands, followed by a kenku who seemed to be asking him politely to stop running, and a not so friendly fox looking tabaxi who was pushing his way out of one of the quaint and fresh smelling bakeries.

Without much thought, Techno and Phil split up, Phil going towards the bakery and Techno following after the train following the alleged thief.

The shardmind turned a tight corner, sending the kenku into a tight circle and the taxi crashing into the kenku. Techno was still a little behind the two and turned on the other side of the building the thief had disappeared behind and continued after them.

Techno sprinted after them, predicting the shardmind’s moves to the best of his ability. Above them, a large silhouette of a feathered creature soared, at first Techno assumed it was the kenku, but he was also unsure if he had ever seen a kenku with wings. He didn’t give it much thought though as the shardmind, still sprinting ahead of him, clearly knew something about losing a pursuer.

After about a minute's worth of casing, the shardmind finally made a mistake. It turned a corner and only halfway down it did they notice that it was in fact a dead end with no obvious way out.

There were two things Techno noticed next. The first was that between the shardmind’s shallow breaths, it was laughing. The second thing Techno noticed was the fact that now, staring at the shardmind face to face, he recognized it.

Techno should have connected the dots sooner, I mean how many shardminds does one see in a lifetime?

“Skeppy?” Techno exclaimed.

The shardmind’s eyes widened at the name, and then laughed some more as he too realized who he was looking at, “Techno!”

Techno completely forgot about the reason he was chasing his old friend as he stepped towards him, “Oh my god, it’s you!” Techno said with a smile.

“Techno!” Skeppy exclaimed again, dropping the item in his hands, and rushed towards Techno, “Oh my god it's been so long dude!”

But before Techno could continue, the same winged shadow that had been looming over the chase as it happened appeared again, this time much closer to the ground until it landed on the other side of the alley on Skeppy’s side.

As they landed and whipped around, Techno saw who it was almost immediately.

The figure cast out its arm towards Skeppy, sword in hand, “Thief! You can’t run anymore,” they demanded.

Skeppy looked between the winged man and Techno and backed up towards Techno.

“Your friend there can’t help you-” They stopped abruptly as they stared at the pigman that Skeppy was backing towards, “Techno?”

“Wilbur, he’s a friend,” Techno said simply, stepping towards the both of them.

“You know this man?” Skeppy and Wilbur said in unison, sending each other sour looks as they realized what they did before turning back to Techno.

He nodded, “Uh yeah. Wilbur, I’m sure you’ve just misunderstood something-”

“How do you explain this?” Wilbur said, kicking along the thing that Skeppy had dropped when he and Techno had reunited, a fresh loaf of bread.

“Look, man- Wilbur I think, Techno, it was just a fun little game-”

“Stealing is not a “fun little game”” Wilbur demanded.

“Ehh entertainment is subjective,” Skeppy shrugged, making Techno chuckle.

Wilbur turned his attention back to Techno, “Are you- laughing? Harboring a criminal?”

“Oh come on Wilbur, why do you care so much?” Techno defended, “I'm sure you’ve stolen little things when you’ve been in a hard place-”

“I’m not in a hard place!” Skeppy said dramatically

Techno deadpan stared at his friend, mentally screaming “I'm trying to help you here, shut up”. As Skeppy realized what he was doing, he turned back towards Wilbur and dramatically collapsed onto his knees and whines, “Oh, good sir, hath you never been in such a wretched place as I?”

Techno blatantly facepalmed as Wilbur narrowed his eyes as Skeppy, clearly fed up with his bullshit, “You stole from a friend of mine-”

“And you’re threatening a friend of mine, Wilbur,”

“Okay well, your friend is a criminal Techno-

Behind Techno at the mouth of the alleyway, the fox and the kenku fumbled overtop of each other, desperately trying to get a view of Skeppy.

“Skeppy!” The kenku cried.

“Motherfucker!” The tabaxi also cried.

The kenku looked up at the tabaxi and bonked him over the head, “Language,” he pestered.

The tabaxi just looked confused, then looked back down the alley towards Wilbur, Techno, and Skeppy. The kenku pushed in front of the tabaxi and tried to get past Techno.

“Uh- hey. Who are you?” Techno asked, lightly pushing the kenku back.

The shorter birdman looked up at Techno and with a small curtsy, he introduced himself, “I'm Bad, a pleasure to meet you,” the kenku said, “I’m sorry about my friend here everyone,” Bad said, looking between the tabaxi, Techno, Wilbur, and narrowing his eyes playfully at Skeppy. “Sometimes he just doesn’t think about his action before he does something.”

Techno laughed, “You’re telling me.”

Behind him, Skeppy swatted Techno’s arm as Bad laughed, “Ah, so you two have met before?”

“Remember how I’ve told you about when I worked at that palace Bad? Yeah, I was like- paid to be Techno here’s friend,” At that, Techno got his retribution in smacking Skeppy like he had done to Techno. Skeppy laughed, “Oh, is Phil’Za in town as well?”

Techno was about to respond when Wilbur cut in once more, “While this is great and all, your friend here did steal from a local bakery,” The tabaxi behind Bad nodded as Wilbur said this.

“I’ll just pay for it Wilbur, chill out,” Techno insisted.

“Okay- well he still stole,” The tabaxi said back.

“Ehh- does that really matter?”

“Yes!” Wilbur and the tabaxi said in unison.

“Well I’ll just pay him out,” Techno said, grabbing the sack of money he kept on his belt and sifting out a handful of coins and throwing them at the tabaxi, “Here, take it and stay quiet kid.”

“Hey- ow- ow,” The tabaxi whined as a few coins bounced off of him. He quickly picked up the coins and put them into his own pouch.

Wilbur sighed and put his sword back into his sheath, then walked towards the rest, “Well then, I guess I should introduce myself,” He said, “I’m Wilbur, I’ve been traveling with Techno as a group of others for the past few weeks,”

“That was my father’s name,” The tabaxi echoed.

“Shut up, orphan,” Techno said blatantly.

Everyone stared at Techno, confused and taken aback by what he said, but Skeppy still laughed. Wilbur continued with what he was saying to cure the awkward silence, “Your friend here stole from an old friend of mine who runs the bakery in town.”

“Ah yeah… sorry about that,” Skeppy said, rubbing the back of his neck, “Well I’m Skeppy, I’m an old friend of Techno from when he first came to the fae wilds.”

“And I'm Fundy,” the tabaxi introduced, “I run the potions side of the bakery that Wilbur’s friend, Niki, owns.”

“Well it’s very nice to meet all of you,” Bad said politely.

“Why don’t we all head back to this bakery or whatever, Skeppy can apologize, and we can all chat,” Techno suggested, “Also, me and Phil have the horses ready Wilbur.”

“Aw, are you not staying for long?” Skeppy asked.

Techno nodded, “Yeah, we’re in a rush to the capital city.”

“Aw,” Skeppy said sadly.

“Well I like Techno’s idea, maybe we can introduce you all to the rest of the group and we can settle everything out,” Wilbur said.

Everyone seemed to agree as well as they all started back to the bakery, Skeppy, Bad, and Techno chatting amongst themselves as Wilbur and Fundy walked along as well, chatting lightly as they approached the bakery.

Wilbur seemed to notice as Techno’s mood brightened with his old friend, Skeppy was to Techno what Tubbo was to Tommy, and he was pretty sure their jobs were the same, Wilbur couldn't help but smile at it


	15. chapter fourteen

“Oh my god, is that the one and only Phil’Za Minecraft?” Skeppy immediately called out as they entered into the now rather crowded bakery, he rushed forward and wrapped his crystalline arms around the shorter king.

Phil seemed alarmed at first, but as he realized who had ran towards him, he laughed and reciprocated the embrace, “Aw, Skeppy, mate. What are the odds of seeing you here?” Phil chuckled, patting him firmly on the back and he backed out of his rather lung crushing hug.

“Oh come on Skeppy, don’t asphyxiate the old man,” Techno called out behind the two, earning him a furrowed brow and a smirk from Phil.

“I don’t know what that fuckin’ means, Nerd,” Skeppy said confidently.

“Hey!” Techno laughed, “Only I can call people nerds,” Techno insisted.

“Well I’m not calling other people a nerd, Techno, I’m calling you a nerd.” That earned Skeppy a rather painful sounding slap on the back, “Wait! That was that for!”

Techno shrugged with a smug look on his face, “Hand slipped.”

Skeppy scoffed and rolled his eyes before turning back to Phil with a smile on his face, “Anyways, before we were rudely interrupted by your son, sir,” Skeppy said sarcastically, narrowly avoiding being hit again, “How’s it going? I heard you all are on a bit of a quest!”

Behind the group, Wilbur cleared his throat before Phil could respond, dragging all the eyes in the room back to him, beside him the Tabaxi and now an elf-looking woman stood beside him, the woman clearly a little fed up with the rowdiness in her shop.

“Oh-” Skeppy’s voice faded off, looking between Phil, Techno, and the new elf woman, “Yeah…” Skeppy said with a guilty chuckle as he scratches the back of his neck. “I’m sorry about the bread..”

Her expression quickly turned from a stone-faced, rather menacing look to a much softer smile as she laughed, “Oh, it’s really alright, I’m just glad none got hurt,” she insisted.

Skeppy nodded, “Yeah,” he said awkwardly, “Is there something you want me to do to make it up to you?” he asked earnestly.

“Oh no, it’s alright,” she insisted.

“Are you sure, ma’am?” Phil asked from behind him, “I’ll gladly pay for any repercussions he caused,” beside him, Techno sent Wilbur a smug and knowing smile, who just rolled his eyes, but Techno was pretty sure he could see just the smallest smile.

“Oh yes, I’m sure,” she insisted, “Oh, and my name’s Niki,” She added on, seeming to notice how Phil addressed her.

“Pleasure to meet you, Niki,” Phil said warmly.

“Likewise, to all of you.”

Wilbur spoke up from beside Wilbur, “Niki here is an old friend of mine,” he said, “Niki and I traveled together for some time before we ended up here, I continued across the ocean but Niki here stayed around.”

Niki nodded, “We met not too long after Wil had left him home, right?” She said, looking back up to Wilbur who nodded. “Yeah, and this here is Fundy,” Niki introduced, motioning to the Tabaxi who half the group had already met in the alleyway, “He wandered in not long after I had settled down in this place, and he’s my business partner, I bake on this side and on the other side of the divider wall there, Fundy sells potions,” Niki told them.

Fundy did a little bow beside her which made Niki smile at him, “Pleased to meet you all.”

“Well,” Skeppy started, “I’m Skeppy, and somewhere in here-” he looked around till his eyes landed on a little kenku in the back and red robes who was sitting pleasantly near the door of the crowded room, “That’s Bad,” he introduced.

The kenku perked up at the mention of his name and he hopped over to his friend, giving the group a friendly wave. “We travel around the continents for little jobs here and there,” Bad told the group.

“I actually used to work in Phil here’s palace as Techno’s assigned friend,” Skeppy told the group, which earned him an eye roll from Techno who muttered “Whatever,” under his breath. “Eventually I left to do my own exploring where I incidentally met back up with Bad and we haven’t stopped traveling since,” Skeppy said proudly, throwing his arm around his bird friend.

“And I’m Phil,” The king introduced, “I’ve been traveling with Techno, Wilbur, and a group of others to beyond the capital city,” seeming on command, the quaint bell that rang whenever someone entered the shop sounded off. All eyes quickly turned to the door to see who was entering.

“Haha, yes! Thank you, Deo!” A new voice called out excitedly, running through the door without looking and running square into Wilbur.

“Oh sit-” The blond cursed, “I’m so sorry sir-” He started but stopped himself abruptly as he looked up to see who he actually ran into, “Oh, it’s just you,” the familiar kid said, completely changing his tone as he narrowed his eyes up at Wilbur.

Wilbur cackled and Phil rested his head in his hands and sighed, “Well speak of the devil and he shall arrive as the saying goes,” Phil says with a small laugh.

Two more people filtered in behind the kid; Tubbo and Deo squeezed themselves behind Tommy, looking throughout the bakery. “Is this some kind of intervention?” Tubbo asked, making Deo and Tommy chuckle.

“Well, that blond there is my son, Tommy, and his companion Tubbo, and Deo as well,” Phil told the group. Everyone exchanged their greeting as Deo poked up above the group.

“I think Dream, Subpoena, George, and Big Q are heading back from the docks now, I just told them to meet me in the town center.”

“Ah,” Phil nodded, he looked back at Skeppy and Niki, “That’s the rest of our group,” he informed them.

“That’s quite the group you’ve got there,” Bad noted, giving everyone in the group a wave.

“Tommy’s grown up,” Skeppy noted.

“Oh, I forgot that you ever met him, Skeppy,” Phil said, “You left just a month or so after he arrived, didn’t you?”

Skeppy nodded. Phil called Tommy over through the crowd, he dragged Tubbo over with him as he turned to look Skeppy and Bad up and down.

“Who the fuck are you?” Tommy asked blatantly, earning him a look from his father.

Skeppy narrowed his eyes, “I could ask you the same fucking thing you little shi-” Techno cut him off quickly, clearly seeing where that was about to go.

“Uh- Tommy, this is Skeppy, he used to work in the palace-” Techno tried to explain.

“They paid me money to be his friend because he’s sad-” Skeppy insisted, making Techno shake his head with a small smile.

“This is slander I have lots of friends-” Even Phil laughed at that, he patted his son on the back with a smirk and nodded.

“If you insisted, Techno,” Phil commented, not giving him a chance to respond as he walked towards the door with Deo to scout out the rest.

Tommy laughed evilly but Tubbo looked between Skeppy, Techno, and Tommy and narrowed his eyes, “So like me?”

Tommy choked and whipped his head towards Tubbo which in turn made the other two laugh maniacally. “Whatever,” Tommy muttered, crossing his arms as Tubbo patted his shoulder, a small, knowing look on his face.

The smalltalk continued for a few minutes, everyone just talking over each other in a conglomerate mess of voices until the little bell over the shop door rang again, quickly stealing everyone’s attention.

Deo poked his head through the door, giving everyone a small wave, “The rest are here,” he said, then slipped back out the door.

Everyone else quickly followed and they went around and did introductions as Dream, Subpoena, George, Big Q, Jack, and Eret all introduced themselves as did everyone else who needed to once more.

“I’m friends with the innkeeper if you all would like for me to get you rooms so you can get a fresh start tomorrow,” Niki told the group.

Everyone looked to Phil, who thought for a moment, seemingly doing some quick calculations, when shrugged, “That would be lovely if they can fit us, Niki, we have groups that can huddle together,” Phil told her with a smile.

She nodded, “You can come with me so we get the rooms right and everyone else can just hang around here until then,” she instructed.

Phil nodded, “Sounds good to me,” He looked over the group, “Eret, Wil, and Deo, you three are in charge, please no one go too far from here,” he said, giving the group a wave as he walked off with Niki.

Groups split up once more, and Techno was grabbed by Skeppy and Bad. The two asked him to step away from the group with them, and he complied, walking to get away from the noise.

The three strolled around together in comfortable silence, Skeppy and Techno just glad to be in each other's company and Bad in Skeppy’s. They wandered some ways off, back towards the docks as the sun was seemingly starting to drop on the horizon.

Bad and Skeppy led him to a little clearing that seemed like it would have a nice view of the sunset as the three sat down.

“Well,” Techno started, “It’s been a pleasure to see you again, Skeppy, and it’s nice to meet you, Bad.”

The two nodded, “I’ve missed you, Techno,” Skeppy said warmly.

“I’ve missed you as well, Skeppy,” Techno told him, “Maybe when this is all over, I can come back and travel around with you two.”

They nodded, “What even are you doing all the way out here? And why so big of a party? It can’t be that important?” Skeppy asked.

Techno sighed, “If you were anyone else, I wouldn’t tell you,” Techno told him, “But since it’s you, I will; I know it was years ago now, but when you worked in the palace, did Phil ever mention some kind of prophecy type thing?”

Skeppy thought back for a moment, “Maybe? I feel like he was always alluding to something but I don’t remember if I was ever told exactly what.”

“Well, that’s all coming down now. I’ve been researching, there’s someone out there with a corrupted magic source who’s been using it as a weapon of mass destruction. They’ve been destroying villages all around the continents, and Phil is afraid they’re going for the capital, which would be like the dam breaking, if they take the capital this entire continent, and maybe the rest of the world, would be in imminent danger,” Techno told him starkly.

Skeppy took in what Techno was saying, slowly nodding along as he spoke. He sat back, “So you’re going to stop it?”

“That’s the plan. I haven’t told Phil about everything I've learned yet, I’ve been holding back because I don’t want him to do something irrational out of fear of losing someone, and no one else knows the severity of what we're going into.”

“Why doesn’t Phil just assemble his brothers? They’re literally the protectors of the fae wilds, it’s their job to handle things like this,” Skeppy pointed out.

Techno paused, “Something is happening, Skeppy. To Phil and his brothers, whether they would like to admit it or not. They’re all losing control over the fae and in turn, they’re getting weaker. They all blame each other, accusing everyone of using too much of the magic on their own personal projects or for their own gain, but in reality, they’re all scared,” Techno told him.

“Phil is the only one of his brother’s who has actually taken action, he figured out that it’s the corrupted magic that’s literally warping the world around us,” Techno told him, “The rest are bored with this world, they don’t care what happens to it.”

“So your little army is the final line of defense?” Skeppy asked.

“Yeah…” Techno confirmed.

“Then why don’t me and Bad join you guys? You need all the help you can get, and you know me, well I trained with you, and Phil, and hell, Bad here isn’t half bad either, we can help you, Techno!” Skeppy insisted.

Techno took a deep breath as he contemplated, “Skeppy, we’ve been warned about this mission, it isn’t going to end well for everyone and I don’t want something bad to happen to you or Bad, I already have to watch out for Tommy and Wilbur and Phil,” He tried to explain.

“Nope, I’m not giving you an option anymore, Techno. I just got you back and I’m not letting you go away this quickly,” Skeppy insisted.

“Skeppy, no. That exactly why-”

“Nope, as official watchman of the first prince of ‘Za or whatever the fuck my title was, you’re not getting rid of me.” Behind him, Bad nodded excitedly.

“We’re healers, Techno, how many of those do you have?” Bad added in.

“Skeppy couldn’t put a bandage on correctly if his life depended on it,” Techno snorted.

“I’ve changed!” Skeppy insisted dramatically, before repeating it again, more seriously, “I’ve changed, Techno. I want to help you and I’m going to whether I have to follow behind you in shadow or ride beside you in the light of day.”

Techno sighed and dropped his head down, and slowly responded, “Alright.”


	16. chapter fifteen

The next morning, the party had reassembled and had gathered their items and new livestock. Wilbur looked over the party from a hill, they were gathered around one of the last houses before the seemingly endless wilderness, Phil was just making sure they had everyone.

That’s right, he had to check now. Wilbur couldn’t help the stop embers of pride in his chest as he looked at the group, they started out three or so weeks ago with three, him, Techno, and Phil, later joined by Deo, Tommy, and Tubbo, and now there were fourteen horses perched on the hill, all with eager adventurers ready to face whatever the world would throw at them.

Phil marched his horse back up beside Wilbur, taking a look back down across the group, Wilbur was pretty sure he saw the same look in Phil that he felt in himself, it was hard not to be happy with it. With every new person, their chances of success seemed to double and spirits seemed to rise, Wilbur couldn’t help but notice the brightening of Techno’s mood as his old friend had come around.

Wilbur bit the inside of his lip as he stared at them, he tried to suppress his jealousy, he tried not to be anything like that, but he couldn’t help his quickly set on loneliness. He didn’t like the feeling, he knew he should be happy that Techno had reunited with his old friend, but as they grew closer once more, Wilbur quickly found himself being subconsciously pushed away. He knew Techno didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just how he was, but Wilbur still found him missing his new friend.

Nonetheless, they had a battle to fight and a capital to help, no time for missing those who aren't even dead. Wil shook himself back into the crowd, the group were marching through the planes that surrounded the town, they seemed to stretch on for many miles which helped them a lot.

Once the town they had docked in became just a distant memory in the grand plan, everyone started picking up their pace. Starting with a quick trot, it was clear to Wilbur that the horse under him was itching to run, eager for the future, Wilbur mused at it. And well, the horse didn’t have to wait too long.

Gradually the party picked up their speed, but clearly, a few of the horses saw this as a challenge and a race. Out of nowhere, one set of hooves rushed past Wilbur, he barely even realized who it was until a familiar hat flew off of the poor soul sitting on the horse and smacked Wilbur square in the face, making him brace up and accidentally give the signal for his horse to gallop.

“DEO YOU SON OF A BITCH,” Wilbur yelled over the thunder of the herd. The euphoria of running breakneck speed across a beautiful meadow as the wind ran through his hair disseminated quickly when the sound of hooves got louder, as did the screams. Wilbur had an, ‘oh shit’ moment as he turned his head behind him.

Almost every horse behind them was running to catch up with Deo and Wilbur, Wilbur was torn between screaming himself and laughing maniacally as he got a glimpse of the terrified looks on some of the party’s faces. But with the sudden influx of horses and sound, Wilbur’s horse only ran faster, like it thought the others might ruthlessly trample him and Wilbur.

Now this was all fine and dandy, once the initial shock was shaken out of the party (except for maybe Tubbo and Skeppy) they were going pretty smooth, but then, of course, planes only go uninterrupted for so long. They had been going down embankment after embankment like steps which seemed fine, going up required energy, going down just requires a good rider.

It takes a bitch to jump a river, however.

Wilbur wasn’t sure how he didn’t see it coming, but he was only alerted by the terrified look on Tommy’s face as he yelled to Wilbur. So when Wilbur looked around with a laugh, he was quickly cut short. His horse, still running like its life depended on it, either had no fear or had no time to fear, leaving Wilbur helplessly scrambled to grip his main as he launched himself over the divot at the bottom of the hill and continued to messily run up the hill.

Wilbur found himself halfway down the side of the horse, for a second he was pretty sure he was about to die like the rest of the party continued to soar down the hill with a mighty thunder just as Wil had moments ago. The only reason Wilbur didn’t tumble off his horse and get subsequently squished by about fifty-six individual hooves was because of his wings quickly spinning to life and throwing him back on balance as his horse continued to blaze up the hill.

What felt like pure adrenaline pulsed through Wilbur’s entire body and clouded his mind as without realizing it, he found himself back to a now tired out walk surrounded by an almost equally shook up party with a few still marching their way up the hill.

The heavy breathing of the horses mixed with the shaky breaths of everyone else, but even still, most of the party had a giddy smile laced across their slightly horrified looks as they anxiously chuckled, no one quite sure whether to feel terrified or amazed.

“You alright mate?” Phil said, walking up to Wilbur and his horse with a small laugh.

Wilbur was still trying to catch his breath, but he nodded confidently and laughed a bit as well, reaching down as rubbing circles on his now sweaty horse’s neck.

“Alright,” Phil said, announcing his voice across the group, “Well, while that was quite the race,” He started, “I think we should talk some on foot now, we just ran top speed for a long while, our steeds are probably exhausted and we all probably need a break.”

The party seemed to agree as they all pulled themselves off their horses and dropped onto the ground, George and Bad walked around the group and handed everyone a horse treat or two that they picked up in town.

“We’ll take a short break where, water your horses and yourselves, do whatever you need to do, and we’ll hand walk our steeds until they’re fully cooled down and we can mound up again,” Phil instructed. “You can see about a mile or two in front of us we are starting to get into a forest area, it’ll be like the planes here and those forests for the next two or three days before we start ascending into the mountains, then about a two or three-day journey until we’re at the city.”

The party quickly broke up, Wilbur followed Techno, Phil, Tommy, Deo, Tubbo, and Big Q down to the river where Wilbur just had a near-death experience while the rest stayed at the level of the hill where they dismounted and stretched and pulled out some snacks.

It was a lot warmer on the new continent, which only made the chilly water in the stream all the more glorious. Wilbur hadn’t been sore since the first day or so of travel, but he had a feeling that the next morning wouldn’t be that pleasant, so while they left Phil with the horses, the rest of the river gang followed it down a little to see if there was a part where it got wider.

And alas, it did. Not by too much, but the river gang could probably line up shoulder to shoulder and all fit in the water. It also got significantly deeper, while back where they jumped across, it probably went up the Tubbo’s thigh, where they were now he could successfully swim.

Now, Wilbur was just fine with wading around in the shallower parts, just getting the bottom of his legs wet and whatnot, not wanting to deal with super wet clothes, yet apparently, Tommy had a different idea for him. He and Tubbo had immediately jumped fully into the river and they ended up pulling in Deo as well.

Techno was sitting behind him on the embankment around the river, he didn’t give him much thought though, he didn’t really think he would side with the children. Oh, how wrong he was.

“Wilbyyyy why won’t you get in the water with us?” Tommy whined, even going as far as to use the nickname he had accidentally been given.

“Look, when you’re complaining about chafing when you get back on your horse because you’re soaking wet and I’m not, you’ll see,” Wilbur told him.

“What a shame,” The monotonous voice behind him said, Wilbur looked behind him and raised his eye at Techno.

“What was that-”

Before he could say anything else, Techno grabbed him and suicide water bombed the both of them into the water with a maniacal laugh. Wilbur shrieked and thrashed around, trying to hit Techno with his wings before he hit the water in an attempt to avoid his watery fate, but to no avail.

The next moment, Wilbur pulled his head back out of the water and rapidly shook his head in an attempt to dry his hair, right beside him Techno popped back up as well, Wilbur wasn’t even sure how he managed to get fully underwater but alas, he was rubbing water out of his eyes.

“What the shit is wrong with you?” Wilbur demanded, swiftly turning around and hitting Techno across his thick head with his wing.

Techno was still laughing and as Wilbur hit him he sunk a little back into the water, around them, Tommy, Tubbo, and Deo were all laughing as well, Wilbur quickly turned around again, dragging up a bunch of water with his wings and splashing Techno again.

“Which one of your’s ideas was this?” Wilbur hissed, which only made everyone laugh even more. “I’m serious,” Wilbur demanded again.

Out of nowhere, Deo splashed water towards him, and with an evil and very self-aware smirk he said, “Oops.”

“Oh, it’s on, you fuck,” Wilbur said with a snarly laugh.

“Techno, I’ll forgive you if you help me defeat these unruly children,” Wilbur said with a smug smile, Techno returned the look and with a shrug, he agreed.

“Why that sounds like quite the deal Wil,” Techno said, looking back at Tommy, Deo, and Tubbo.

“You’re going down, you old hags!” Tubbo cried, spinning around in the water and splashing water at the two.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Wilbur notes that Deo is in fact older than almost everyone else in the party, which makes Tubbo’s statement was inaccurate in calling him and Techno old, but he didn’t have much time to point it out as he got a mouth of water thanks to Tommy.

While there were three of them versus Techno and Wilbur, the duo had a lot more mass which helped them a lot more than numbers. Techno towered over basically the entire party while Wilbur had four pretty little white wings that became deadly in a splash fight.

Two literally children from their culture’s perspective, no matter how possibly immortal their friend might be, stood no chance against the two.

Tommy tried to lunge at Techno but it failed miserably and he ended up under the water and scrambling to get a breath on the shore, Techno took this time to push them further downstream. They chased them further downstream until Tubbo tripped over some rocks and fell down in front of Wilbur with a raving laugh, getting a full face of water.

“Oh god, Wilbur I surrender! I surrender!” Tubbo cried with shrill laughter.

Techno laughed as he pulled Tubbo up from the stream, “You’re a valuable asset, Tubbo, we’re going to keep you,” He said, pulling Tubbo up onto his shoulders. Tubbo can’t seem to help himself as he giggles at it, grabbing onto the collar of his drenched cotton shirt.

“Tubbo!” Tommy cried, looking up at him on Techno’s shoulders “We’ll get you back!” Tommy told him.

“You’re no match for us, Tommy,” Wilbur calls out to him, “It’s a two v two and you’ve been outmatched since it was a three v two.”

Out of nowhere, a new voice sounds out through the small valley the river gang had inhabited, “Boys?” Phil’s voice rang as clear as the water was before the boys had started their rampaging.

Wilbur and Techno turned around with Tubbo still on Techno’s shoulders, in sync as Deo and Tommy’s eyes fell towards the top of the embankment where the voice came from.

And there he was, standing on the hill, the bottom of his legs were wet from standing with the horses, who they just had to assume were with the rest of the party. He gave them a warm smile and a wave, “Sorry to interrupt, it looks like you were all having fun, but we're ready to start walking.”

Tommy gave him a sheepish wave as they all looked between each other, collectively a little disappointed. Techno looked back up the hill at him, “Yeah, we’ll be right up there,” He called out, with a wave.

Phil seemed to linger on the image of the five of them in the stream for a moment longer before disappearing again on the other side of the embankment.

“Do I have to get down?” Tubbo asked abruptly, making Tommy laugh.

Techno shrugged, then remembered that there was in fact a child on his shoulders which rendered him from shrugging, then responded, “Nah, you’re good.”

“Deo, can you carry me?” Tommy asked pitifully.

Deo laughed at his trouble, “Tommy I’m pretty sure you’re taller than me, if anything you should be the one to carry me,” Deo informed him.

“No no no, like I’ll hope across your back and you just run,” Tommy insisted.

“I don’t think that will-”

“Do it, Deo!” Wilbur encouraged.

“Ehhh-” But before Deo could protest any further, Tommy threw himself across Deo’s back, which quickly threw him off balance as he stumbled around the already uneven ground, “Wait wait wait-” He croaked out.

Deo threw Tommy lightly over his shoulder with relative ease, which seemed to impress the kid enough for him to shut up momentarily, “Fine, just use the hill there,” He told Tommy.

And so he did, he threw himself onto Deo again, this time with much more accuracy, and the duo marched up the hill, followed by Techno and Tubbo and Wilbur followed the two groups up, taking one quick look through the river bed to make sure no one lost anything.

When they got the top of the two back-to-back embankments and the party and their horses came into view, Techno and Deo threw each other side-eyed glances before Deo sprung into action, running towards the party as quickly as he could with Tommy still slung across his back without the two totally whipping out.

And Techno followed suit, quickly catching up and overtaking Deo as he had both the lighter kid and more strength than the much more human-like gorgon, but Deo still ran in an attempt to beat Techno, and while he didn’t win, he and Tommy did end up hurling into Techno and Tubbo when Techno stopped short, sending Techno toppling over and Tubbo flying forward, somehow managing to be caught by Dream, before phasing through his ghostly arms slowly.

“Woah! Dude!” Tubbo yelled, pulling himself off the group and looking up at Dream, “How did you do that? That was so sick!”

Tommy, Deo, and Techno were all laughing as Tommy pulled Deo off the group and Techno stood himself back up. “Nice catch,” Techno called over to Dream.

“I wasn’t even aware you could catch things,” Wilbur called out from behind them.

Dream laughed, Beside him, Phil appeared again, “Well it looks like you boys had fun. Hopefully, it’s not too cold.”

Wilbur hadn’t thought about the temperature since he had been pushed into the water, it was still warm, but the wind that blew through the valley seemed almost icy to the now soaked Wilbur, “Ah, why’d you have to mention it, Phil.”

“Did you think you could just thoughtcrime the wind out of existence?” Phil called back with a laugh.

“Maybe!” Wilbur called back with a laugh. Techno walked up to Wilbur and draped one of his extra capes across his shoulders, Wilbur quickly thanked him as he wrapped himself up in the soft satin.

Tommy looked between the two and furrowed his brow, “No extra warmth for your brother?” Tommy complained.

Techno gave him a smug smile, “Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” he mused. Tommy gave him a tired look like he had heard his brother speak in tongues a thousand times before, and knowing Techno he probably had.

“C’mon everyone, we’ve still got a good few hours of daylight,” Phil told the group, pushing the reigns of all of the horses back to their rightful riders.

Everyone got back around to their horses and started the march through the tall grass. Wilbur walked with Techno towards the sunset, both taking in the scenery.

Phil was correct when he said they had a few more hours of sunlight, but Wilbur betted on the fact that they wouldn’t mount the horses again that night. The sun rushed it’s golden rays over the field of tall grass, it came up to just below Wilbur’s waist in some places which seemed to lead to some funny situations with Tubbo and Phil who were both much shorter than Wilbur.

The sweet smell of the grass was pleasant, it was a nice change from the muddled scents of the town and the now stale and uninteresting smell of the ocean that was fading away mile by mile. No, the scent of the grasslands was fresh and filled him with new energy. His four pristine white wings (well, pristine was a rough term to use right after the river scuffle) relaxed against his back under the cloak Techno had given him, they brushed the tall grass which sent a pleasant chill up his spine.

“Still chilly?” Techno asked him monotonously, just trying to make some small talk.

Wilbur shrugged, “Muscle spasm or something, I've knocked the chill off. If my wings feel some kind of unusual sensation- like this thick grass, they just- get happy or something, I don’t know how to describe it,” Wilbur described, rubbing the back of his neck. Techno nodded as he understood.

Phil fell back from the front of the group and came back beside the two, and seeing the three gathered, Tommy joined the fray too.

“You got any good travel songs, mate?” Phil asked Wilbur.

Wilbur thought for a moment, and gave him a nod, and slung his lute off the back of his horse, “Yeah, lemme see something.”

The lute seemed to gather the attention of the group, everyone got quieter as Wilbur checked his tuning and started tapping his fingers across the wooden body of the instrument.

[song; Soldier, Poet, King by the Oh Hellos]

Wilbur started strumming and the group stared at each other, talking silently through looks and small motions, “Wait-” a few collectively murmured.

“Do you guys know this?” Wilbur asked, paying his lute more attention as he turned a few knobs on the head of the instrument. “If so, sing along,” Wilbur encouraged them.

“There will come a soldier who carries a mighty sword, He will tear your city down, oh lei-oh lai-oh Lord,” Wilbur began, skipping around between Techno, Dream, and Deo.

“Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh Lord, He will tear your city down, oh lei-oh lai-oh Lord,” The rest of the group joined in. Big Q had grabbed his lute-type instrument off of the back of his horse as well and started strumming along.

“There will come a poet whose weapon is his word, he will slay you with His tongue, oh lei-oh lai-oh Lord,” Wilbur called out, skipping around Phil and Tubbo now.

“Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh Lord. He will slay you with his tongue, oh lei-oh lai-oh Lord,” The group responded back, collectively skipping along with Wilbur, a few of their horses picking up a trot as they jaunted around with their riders.

“There will come a ruler, whose brow is laid in thorn. Smeared with oil like David's boy, oh lei-oh lai-oh Lord,” Wilbur continued on, skipping around Tommy, Big Q, and Eret now.

“Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh Lord. Smeared with oil like David's boy, oh lei-oh lai-oh Lord,” They replied again, “Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh Lord, He will tear your city down, oh lei-oh lai... oh. Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai, oh. Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai, oh. Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai, oh,” The group sang out until it died back into laughing and happy chatting.

“Do you have any more songs like that, Wilbur?” Tubbo asked Wilbur with a wide smile.

Wilbur paused, tapped his fingers against his lute, and gave him a confidant nod, “Sure I do.”

And thus the day went on and turned into the night. It reminded Wilbur about their adventures on the previous continent, running around with Techno, and Phil, and Tommy, and Tubbo, and Deo and all of them with no fears of the future and no worries or what the next day might hold. Wilbur wanted nothing more for them to all go back to being like that, but some chill inside of him told him that they would not stay whole for long.


End file.
